A Room With a View
by SHL23
Summary: Endless scripts to read, a tyrant boss to tolerate, and a rather  lackluster personal life. It was a good thing Bella Swan's office provided the  perfect view of the building's hotshot lawyer. Now if only they'd share more  than a glance each day. E/B
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or anything Twilight related. Honestly. I don't even own the DVDs.**

**Similarly, the title really belongs to E.M. Forster. My story is in no way related to his story of the same name. **

Working at a boutique literary agency in Beverly Hills has its advantages. For starters, my office is housed in a beautiful, old artist's building on the corner of Rodeo Drive. The world's finest shopping is footsteps away. Not that I can afford it.

My job has also made me well connected. I've hobnobbed at industry functions with Hollywood A-listers and if I haven't met an actor or actress personally, I probably know their agent. In fact, I was probably the first person to read the script that their agent is telling them will win them an Oscar.

On the flip side, I'm only an assistant, which means that my Devil Wears Prada-style tyrant of a boss is the agent that will get thanked in that screenwriter's Oscar acceptance speech. _I_ will be asked to make said boss a sandwich the next day.

I admit these advantages were lovely considering I was a girl hoping to break into the screenwriting business myself. The best advantage, however, was my view of the hall in my office building.

Aro Volturi & Associates was housed in three tiny adjacent offices on the second floor of the three-floor building. The first floor was home to a few retail shops and restaurants. The tiny office where Kate, Garrett and I worked was directly across the hall from Aro's office, but he always kept his door shut. Our lone editor, Jane, had an office next door to us. I'd only ever seen her twice in the year I'd been working here.

I didn't know what other businesses held offices on our floor, but I did know that a small but successful entertainment law firm took up the entire third floor. I knew this because to get to their office they had to walk all the way down the long hallway in front of us.

At first, hearing the constant click of well-shined shoes on the tile was irritating. But one day the click click click of Italian loafers carried with it the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen. He was on his phone the first time I noticed him and his laugh resonated down the hall, which was the only reason I had looked up from the front desk. Ours was the only office on the floor that ever had the door open and he happened to glance in at the same time I glanced out. Acknowledging me with a slight quirk of his lips he continued on with his phone conversation as if the entire world we lived in hadn't just flipped its axis. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. But just that one, small smile was enough to etch the man's face into my long-term memory.

The next day Kate and I huddled by the door, much to Garrett's annoyance, pretending to alphabetize client files. Around the same time as the day before he walked by again, acknowledging us both with a wide smile. Three months later and this was part of our daily routine. There were days that I swore I lived only to see that glimpse of his finger-teased hair and grayish green eyes.

Today was one of those days.

"Bella!" Aro's voice barked at me from the doorway. Kate was manning the front desk at the moment and I saw her visibly shrink down, hoping to avoid attention when Aro was obviously in a snit. "I told you I want three different examples of the correct way to do coverage. They can't all be from the same script and why didn't you include any of your own? I need them now."

He tossed the small stack of papers I'd given him twenty minutes ago on the desk in front of me and stormed back to his office, closing the door behind him.

I shot a look at Kate, "That's funny, all I heard the first time he asked was, 'Bella, give me sample coverage.'"

Kate snorted, knowing I was right. Aro had never given explicit instructions a day in his life. Most of the time he expected us to be able to read his mind. And then when we couldn't (gasp!), he would snap and throw a hissy fit over the fact that we couldn't do anything right the first time.

I grumbled as I pored over dozens of the three-inch binders we had filled with coverage. Every script we read (which was our main job, despite all the evidence that we were more personal assistants to his majesty than anything else) had to have coverage written for it. Even if the script was so god-awful that we couldn't stomach anything past three pages, we had to write up coverage explaining why it was so awful that we only read three pages. Essentially, coverage was like a book report, but for scripts and manuscripts. We wrote a summary of the story, our opinion on the story and, if it was really good, prospective actors we would like to see in the parts.

Despite Aro's cantankerous nature, he really did value our opinions. Well, at least he valued mine and Garrett's. For some reason he couldn't stand Kate. It didn't make sense to any of us. Her coverage was as good as ours, but Aro was Aro and his opinion, once formed, was impossible to change (he was like Mr. Darcy, except you never fell in love with him). I was lucky that, for whatever reason, he loved me.

I made my way across the hall with three new examples of coverage in hand, including one of my own. Aro gave me a wide smile as I set them on his desk. I rolled my eyes as I closed his door behind me. The man had more mood swings than a pregnant woman.

I was so preoccupied with my annoyance that I failed to register the familiar staccato footsteps resonating down the hall. Spinning to head back into my office I spun smack dab into a crisp Prada suit. My face was shoulder level with the man and it was just right to get a significant whiff of his cologne. Cedar and spice and oh so nice.

Hands gripped my shoulders to steady me and I found myself looking into the eyes of the jade-eyed boy I ogled everyday. Realizing what a klutz he must have thought me I turned fifty shades of red.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I, um, didn't see you."

He smirked, "It's okay. I should have been paying better attention."

We stood in awkward silence for a moment and I pretended not to be enthralled by his square jaw and pouty lips. Kate always mocked me, but I was a mouth girl through and through. Pretty eyes were nice and a cute ass was a bonus, but a kissable mouth? That was vital. And this man's mouth was obviously created just to make me lose my mind.

Eventually I gathered myself and gestured to the office behind him, "Well, uh, I'm just there, so…"

"Oh! Right." He scratched at the back of his neck as he stepped aside, gesturing me to my office with an outstretched arm.

I gave him a small smile as I moved past him and he turned to continue down the hall. He only made it two steps before he swung around again.

I was standing in the same spot he'd left me because I had been lingering in hopes of catching a glimpse of his ass as he walked away (okay, so I might be an ass girl, too. Sue me. That way I can hire Mr. Kissable Lips as my lawyer).

"I'm Edward," he blurted out and then blushed at his outburst.

I smirked, hoping a little swagger would draw attention away from the fact that I was blushing at my earlier thoughts about his ass, "Bella."

"Maybe I'll see you around."

I nodded, "Probably tomorrow." I gestured back to my office, acknowledging the fact that we 'saw' each other every day.

He scratched at the back of his neck again, "Right."

He looked like he wanted to say more but instead spun on his heel and continued down the hall. And indeed his ass was very cute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or anything Twilight related. Honestly. I don't even own the DVDs.**

**Similarly, the title really belongs to E.M. Forster. My story is in no way related to his story of the same name. **

**###**

"Jasper!" I dropped my messenger bag by the front door of the apartment and slipped off my stupid shoes. Aro had asked me to run a number of errands for him that afternoon and I'd worn my damn wedges that always gave me blisters. Couldn't Aro deposit his own checks at the bank? Buy his own roll of stamps at the post office? And did everything have to walking distance from the office? Stupid, quaint Beverly Hills. Alright, 'quaint' may not be the best word to describe it, but whatever.

"Jasper!" I called again, moving to the kitchen for a drink. "I talked to hot lawyer man today and I know you want to hear about it," I sing-songed.

Jasper might pretend not to care about my 'girly shit,' but I knew better. We met our freshman year of college at UCLA. He was a history major and only attending school to get his parents off his back about wanting to be a musician. They claimed that if he had a degree he would be able to find a job to fall back on if the music thing didn't pan out like he hoped. Way to be supportive ma and pa Whitlock.

I went to UCLA to put a little space between me and my hippier than thou mother. I loved the woman, but she drove me nuts. I had decided in high school that I could not attend college any closer than a two-state range from my mom. We lived in Arizona, but my not-old-enough-to-be-my-father stepdad had been signed to a baseball team in Florida, so they kinda lived there too. I refused to live anywhere cold and Texas and the Deep South were not high on my list of top places to live. So California was my solution. Jasper and I met our first week and had been attached at the hip ever since. Wait, not at the hip. That conjures up images I'd rather not have. Attached at the very platonic shoulder.

Jasper was hot, yes. And I wasn't blind. But Jasper was also a, well, he was a man-whore. I did monogamy. He did our entire freshman class. I loved the boy and he was kind of beautiful, but I would not touch him with a ten-foot pole.

I opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Corona. "Come on, Jas, what's the point in getting my flirt on if I can't even br- mother trucker! Alice! Learn to make some noise when you enter a room!" I had closed the refrigerator and straightened up to find five feet of impish pixie standing a foot from me.

Alice giggled and my heart rate began to resume its normal pace. I moved to my usual spot in the kitchen, jumping up to sit on the counter by the sink as Alice grabbed a bottle of water for herself. I took a long sip from my beer and sighed, letting myself relax. Jasper sauntered in behind Alice and grabbed his own bottle of Shiner Bock. You can take the boy out of Texas…

He wrinkled his nose at my drink of choice, "How can you drink that without lime?"

I shrugged, "I'm just too lazy to cut a lime right now and we can't all stomach Texas tar." His favorite beer had been an ongoing argument between us. I really didn't mind Shiner, it was just more fun to get a rise out of Jasper.

He rolled his eyes at me and pulled a lime from the fruit bowl sitting next to me on the counter. I grinned as he grabbed a knife and began to cut it into wedges for me. "You're wrong, by the way, I don't want to hear about hot lawyer man, and staring at his ass doesn't count as getting your flirt on."

I pouted, annoyed that he knew me so well. He squeezed a lime wedge into my beer bottle and put the rest of the wedges in a plastic bag in the fridge for me. I chuckled to myself, he was such a good little wife.

"I want to hear about hot lawyer man. Did you get his name?"

I grinned at Alice, "Yep, his name is Edward."

She smiled, "And?"

"Uh, and he has a nice ass?"

Jasper snorted, "I told you it wasn't flirting."

I threw a sponge from the sink at him, "Shut up. It was subtle flirting. We even referenced seeing each other tomorrow. And give me back my Ramones shirt, ass."

He looked at me pointedly, "_Your _Ramones shirt? Correct me if I'm wrong, B, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one who had this shirt in his suitcase when we arrived at UCLA."

I rolled my eyes, "And then you didn't even notice that it disappeared from your wardrobe for two years."

"I did too! I even asked you if you'd seen it you little liar!"

"I'm not a liar! I hadn't _seen _it; I'd _worn_ it. There's a difference."

"Yeah, worn it when you knew I wouldn't see you because you knew it was mine and I'd want it back. My shirt, B. Keep your grubby Winona Ryder paws off."

This had also been an ongoing argument for years. The t-shirt had been swapped between our closets probably hundreds of times. And it still would hundreds of times more, I was sure. Alice snickered at us, "You guys are like an old married couple." Jasper and I both wrinkled our noses in distaste at that thought. She rolled her eyes at us before grabbing his hand and dragging him out to the living room, "Come on, Bella, we were going to have a Christopher Guest marathon. Join us."

I followed them both into the living room where Jasper and I insisted we watch _Waiting For Guffman_ first. Alice didn't bother to argue, it would have been a lost cause.

The three of us settled onto the couch, Jasper and Alice cuddled on one end with me sprawled out on the other half. Alice had become part of our duo senior year of college. She would go down in history as the first girl that made Jasper Whitlock work for it. It didn't take him long to realize she was funny and smart and so worth the work he put toward pursuing her. I just loved her because she didn't jump into his bed at the first sight of him playing guitar and she was never jealous of me. She knew from the onset that I wasn't a threat and most guys have a best friend, his just happened to be a girl. She also saved me from a lot of awkward morning after conversations with the different notches on his bedpost – "Good morning, notch in bedpost, want some coffee? No, he's not going to come out of his room for breakfast. He also probably locked the door when you left. Yeah, that's totally his real cell phone number. Of course I'll have him call you when he gets up. Have a nice life, I mean, day!" Yeah, I didn't miss those.

Halfway through _For Your Consideration_ I gave up ignoring the make out twins at the other end of the couch and headed for bed, excited for the first time in a while about going to work.

###

It was amazing how quickly my excitement could vanish.

"Frick! Frick, frick, frickety frick!"

Garrett laughed at me, "Someday, Bella, you'll learn to use the grown up word."

I glared at him, "Shut up, Garrett. Or keep talking, but if you do, talk while you help me look for the freaking script!"

Aro had assigned me a screenplay to read and cover last week and I was only halfway through it. That wasn't such a problem except that I couldn't even find the script now. Losing a script was bad, very, very bad. A good script ending up at some other agent's office because I lost it would cost me my job. I was on a freaking tear to find that script. Naturally, Aro chose that moment to come in to the office.

"Hey everyone, good morning." He smiled at all of us as he sipped his coffee. Kate was at the front desk this morning and Garrett and I were at the two desks lining the front wall. Well, Garret was at a desk, I was sitting on the floor surrounded by stacks of manuscripts and screenplays.

We all mumbled our hellos and continued with our work. Kate was drinking her customary green tea, Garrett was writing up coverage from someone's attempt at a sci-fi thriller, and I was having a panic attack.

"Kate, do I have any meetings today?"

Aro and Kate went over his schedule while I pretended not to be frantic.

"Bella, how's that script coming?"

I looked up sharply at Aro, hoping I didn't look like a deer in the headlights. "Uh, yeah, it's good, really good. I'm about halfway through it, but I accidentally left it at home today."

"Oh good, you're taking it home to read it. Good for you. Alright, well just make sure I have the coverage by Friday." He turned and left our office.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes taking a script out of the office would make him berserk, but I knew he'd be more lenient with me. At that thought I chanced a glance at Kate; of course, she was playfully glaring at me, "I will never understand why you're his favorite. Seriously Bella, I manage the man's entire schedule, act as a secretary because you hate answering phones and I still do coverage. You browse the internet and mock scripts with Garrett."

I grinned. It was true. Frequently the screenplays we read were so poorly written that Garrett and I would end up rolling on the floor laughing while pretending to act them out. I sometimes wondered what the writer's would think if they knew the readers at their dream agency turned their prized screenplays into mock skits when we couldn't be bothered to do real work. Kate joined us more often than not, but it was true that she probably did more work at the office than Garrett and I combined. It wasn't my fault I was a speed-reader and could cover two screenplays in a day if I needed to. Three if I was really pushing it.

By lunchtime I still hadn't found the screenplay and I was close to having a panic attack. I knew it wasn't at home because I vividly remembered putting it in my messenger bag that morning. I was so distracted with finding it that I didn't even realize it was time for me to stalk the door for my daily dose of hot lawyer man. I sat at the desk, staring at the wall in a trance as I tried to remember where I could have possibly left it that morning, completely unwilling to admit to myself that I genuinely lost it. I was so zoned out that I nearly fell out of my chair when there was a knock at the door. Kate, Garrett and I all abruptly looked up, though I could hear Garrett stifling his laugh as I tried to subtly slide back onto my chair.

Edward stood in our doorway looking better than anyone had a right to with his dark navy suit and skinny black tie. I silently praised whatever deity saw fit to make lawyers dress up for work. I briefly considered wrapping his tie around my fist and yanking his face to mine, but came to my senses before I acted on it. Edward blushed slightly at being stared at by the bunch of us and surreptitiously smoothed down his shirt. Right, like we were staring at him because of a wrinkle.

"Um," he cleared his throat. "Hi Bella."

I smiled back, thrilled that he remembered my name, "Hi Edward."

He reached inside of his briefcase. "I just stopped in because, uh, this is a literary agency, right? Like you guys read scripts and stuff?"

I smirked. Hot lawyer man wasn't very eloquent.

"Yeah man. What's up? You got a script you want us to read?" Garrett asked. It wouldn't be the first time someone dropped in to inquire about representation. I tried to hide my disappointment at this prospect. I hated it when people only befriended us in an attempt to get their screenplay to Aro; it was such a Hollywood move.

Edward looked startled, "No. I mean, I have a script, but it's not mine." Ah, so he was inquiring for a friend. Still not the first time and still lame. He rubbed the back of his neck like he did the day before in the hall, "Sorry, it's not even a script I want you to read. I just, I found this script outside, in front of the building, and I thought maybe it belonged here."

He held out the screenplay I had placed in my bag that morning and I jumped out of my seat. Hot lawyer man was my freaking knight in shining armor. Without thinking about it I tackled him in a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He was obviously caught off guard (and let's be honest, who _would_ expect a perfect almost stranger to tackle them into a hug) and we stumbled awkwardly into the filing cabinet by the door. It was a good thing I hadn't acted on my earlier impulse to drag him around by his tie, that would have really caught him off guard. After I finished creeping out the beautiful man I took the script and hugged it to my chest. "Edward, you are a life saver. I thought I lost this. I owe you big. Like Harry Potter-style life debt big."

I knew Kate and Garrett were laughing at me, but I couldn't bring myself to be embarrassed that I'd just tackled the man I was crushing on and outed myself as a big Harry Potter nerd, I was too relieved. Edward grinned at me, "That is big. Um, well, I'll have to think about how you can pay me back."

Garrett snickered behind us and I rolled my eyes, "Get your head out of the gutter, Garrett."

Edward's eyes widened, "Oh! No! God, sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

"It didn't, don't worry. Garrett's head just takes permanent residence in the gutter so everything sounds like that."

"Right," Edward looked mildly relieved, though his slight blush let me know that his thoughts had probably rented out a space next to Garrett's. "Well, I'm glad you got your screenplay back." He gestured down the hall with a nod of his head, "I should get back to work. See you tomorrow, Bella."

"Yup, see you." I was unable to rein in my grin and I studiously avoided the knowing looks from my coworkers. Before either of them could say anything I plopped down at my desk and opened up the screenplay, flipping them both the bird behind me.

###

**AN: Shiner Bock is a beer brewed in Texas, for those who may not know. Also, I didn't mention this last chapter, but much of this story comes from personal experience. Aro is modeled largely after my old boss, as is the lit agency. Except my real boss was more interested in doing charcoal drawings of nude men than getting new clients. No lie.**

**Most of the places I'll mention are real, so if you wanna know more about something, let me know and I'll answer what I can.**

**I'm changing the rating on this to M because my inner sailor is struggling to stay locked away in my brain and when he inevitably breaks out there may be use of the 'grown up word' for frick. And someday I might get the guts to write a lemon, too.**

**Lastly, this is my first fic, so thank you for reading, and if you could please write me a review to let me know what you think, that would be great! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Even just a 'hey, not bad' would be very much appreciated. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or anything Twilight related. Honestly. I don't even own the DVDs.**

**Similarly, the title really belongs to E.M. Forster. My story is in no way related to his story of the same name. **

**###**

When I stepped out of the office for lunch the next day I ran solidly into six feet of hot lawyer. I practically rebounded off of him and he reached out an arm to steady me, smirk firmly in place. "You know, Bella, that's the third time in as many days that you've thrown yourself at me."

Well, well, someone brought his swagger with him today. The low timbre of his voice was new to me and I took a moment to collect myself, taking in the artfully casual stance of Edward as I did. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket at the moment and his tie was pulled just a little bit loose, the top button of his shirt undone and sleeve cuffs rolled up his forearms. He was leaning sideways against the wall, one foot crossed in front of the other and the hand that hadn't reached out to steady me was fisted in his pocket. I doubted I was subtle in my perusal, but he hadn't been subtle with his innuendo, so I wasn't bothered about it.

I smirked back at him, "I believe I only threw myself at you once, and it was a reflex."

I began to walk down the hall toward the building's exit and Edward fell into step beside me, "That's not how I remember it."

"And how do you remember it?"

"I strode into your office on my white horse to find you, the damsel in distress, near hysterics over the lost script that I searched high and low to find for you. I returned your lost token and you promptly jumped into my arms saying, 'Edward! My hero! Take me, I'm yours!'" He added the falsetto voice and everything, making me snort out my laughter, which was kind of embarrassing.

"You might be right about the hysterics bit," I conceded. "But the white knight I remember did a lot of blushing and stammering while returning the script he accidentally found."

He blushed the tiniest bit before muttering, "There's no proof."

I grinned, "Always the lawyer, huh? Besides, you were the one waiting for me outside my office just now. Or did you just think that bit of wall looked like a nice place to stand and rest a while?"

He smirked and ignored my question, asking me instead if I was on my lunch break as we stepped onto the street level, both of us squinting at the onslaught of hazy California sunshine.

I pulled my sunglasses out of my bag. "That depends."

He frowned at me, "On what?"

"Are you on _your_ lunch break?"

He grinned and I might have melted a little on the inside. "Yes, I am."

"Then yes, I think this is the perfect time for my lunch break." Ha, Jasper would be hard pressed to call this subtle.

"Perfect, I was thinking we should discuss the details of this little life debt issue. Do you like Nate 'n Al?"

I had to clear my throat in order to answer him with more than a high-pitched squeal. Edward was clearly a man after my own heart. "I love Nate 'n Al, but I'm buying."

He actually looked affronted, "What? Why would I let you buy? I asked you to lunch."

I rolled my eyes, "Technically you only asked me if I was on my lunch break and that was after following me down the hall like a stalker. And you have to let me buy because if I let you buy me a Nate 'n Al's hotdog I will owe you yet another life debt. And that's just more debt than one girl can repay." Nate 'n Al was famous for their hotdogs. Eating one was like eating a piece of heaven, they were so good. The restaurant itself was sort of a hole in the wall deli, but even celebrities flocked to it, trendy diets be damned.

I could tell Edward wanted to argue the payment issue, but he settled for an eye roll as we turned in the direction of Nate 'n Al.

We chatted about nothing as we walked the few blocks to the restaurant, pointing out the random things you would only find in Beverly Hills. Like the late 50-something surfer dude wearing board shorts and driving a Maserati. And we both studiously ignored the Greenpeace guilt trippers outside of the Starbucks we passed. No I don't have moment for Greenpeace, Mr. Greenpeace man, and judging by your designer jeans, neither do you. Wearing flip-flops in Beverly Hills and holding a clipboard does not make you a superior caretaker of the environment. Besides, I recycle.

Edward and I stepped inside Nate 'n Al and settled into a well-worn booth. I snickered as I recognized an actress in the booth across from us. She was wearing a peasant dress with bobby socks and Mary Janes, sitting cross-legged in the booth like she was in her own living room. Ah, Hollywood, how you amuse me. Our waitress came and after very little deliberation he ordered the roast brisket of beef and I ordered the frankfurters.

When the waitress left I folded my hands on top of the table and cleared my throat, "So, Edward, you're a lawyer."

He grinned before mimicking my interview pose, "Yes, I am. In particular I am a transactional music lawyer."

"Which means?"

"Which means I negotiate contracts and deals between musicians and record labels. Or at least that's the short version of what I do."

"Wow." I relaxed from my formal pose, "That's really cool, actually."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Actually? What, you expected what I do not to be cool?"

I shrugged. "Well, you _are _a lawyer. On Family Feud your profession was deemed to have the hardest time getting into heaven, and that was above prostitutes," I stated matter-of-factly.

He laughed at me. "You watch Family Feud?"

"Shut up."

He exaggeratedly took a moment to collect himself, eventually clearing his throat and resuming our interviewing posture. "Sorry. So, Bella, you're an agent?" He questioned, obviously not exactly sure what my role was at the agency.

I shook my head, "No, though I think someday I'd like to be. Right now, if I had to give myself a job title, I would claim to be an assistant literary agent slash office manager slash reader."

"Wait, reader? Someone actually reads for a job?"

"Yes _I _read as a job. What, you think agent's actually read the manuscripts and screenplays themselves? No. They hire peons like me to read for them and give them summaries of everything they don't read. Hell, Aro doesn't even see a script unless I think it's good first. I guess I should mention that not all agents are that way, but most established agents are. They don't have time to read everything that comes through their office."

"Wow, I guess I never thought of that. So when you become an agent are you going to read screenplays yourself?" I liked that he so casually stated I would become an agent, like it was an inevitability. Becoming an agent was competitive as hell and even if he didn't know that it boosted my confidence to think this man thought I could be one. Agents have to have a certain type of panache and I often wondered if I had it. The very fact that anyone could picture me as an agent made me a little giddy.

"I hope to at least do some of the reading myself. Even when Aro has a block of free time he spends it seeking out artwork instead of reading scripts. My coworkers and I all think he's secretly a failed art dealer. He drags me to art shows all the time."

"That's kind of odd," Edward frowned.

I nodded, "He's kind of an odd man."

Our drinks came then and I took the lemon out of my water. Why the hell did restaurants just put a lemon wedge in your water for you? Not everyone likes a lemon in their water. I noticed Edward watching me across the table. "What?"

He shook his head, but grinned. "You don't like lemon in your water?"

"No. Do you?" He nodded and I held out my lemon wedge to him, "Do you want mine?" He shrugged and nodded again before taking it from me and squeezing it into his drink.

"So how did you become a music lawyer?"

"Well, I've always enjoyed music and playing instruments, but when I got to college I found myself leaning more towards the music industry than actual performance. In the end I decided being a music lawyer would be ideal. I get to surround myself with music while making sure artists don't get taken advantage of."

"That's cool. You're kinda like Robin Hood?"

"Robin Hood?"

"Yeah, you steal from the big, rich music execs and record labels and give to the poor, broke musicians."

He chuckled, "Except I don't steal."

"Really? So you don't charge exorbitant lawyer fees?" I asked pointedly, smirking so he would know I was joking. At least I hoped he'd know I was joking.

He laughed, "Alright, that's a fair point."

I nodded. "So did you go to school around here?" Please don't say you went to USC, please don't say you went to USC, please don't say you went to USC.

"I did my undergrad at USC."

I huffed and crossed my arms, "We can't be friends."

His eyes widened, "What! How can you hate USC? No one in L.A. hates USC!"

"Uh, yeah, I do."

"Come on," he wheedled, leaning across the table toward me. "Pete Carroll? Reggie Bush? Matt Leinart! I thought women loved him."

"Obnoxious, obnoxious and ew, gross."

"You went to UCLA, didn't you?" He questioned, leaning back against the booth. "Because I don't hate the Bruins just because they're rivals."

"Yes, I did, and good for you. I still hate SC."

He pouted. "Well I went to Stanford for law school." His bottom lip stuck out and everything. I couldn't hate the pout. Even if the pout went to USC and pranced around at football games as the Trojan warrior that rode the freaking pony, I couldn't hate that pout.

I sighed, giving in to the power of the pout, "Fine. But if anyone I know ever sees us together, you went to Stanford. End of story."

He grinned, "Yes ma'am."

Our food came then and I tried valiantly not to look like an idiot while eating a hotdog. I'm not sure my efforts were very effective, but there's really no dainty way to eat a hotdog. I did catch Edward watching me intently after I loaded the bun, but he didn't say anything, so I just pretended that it wasn't obvious I was eating a large phallic symbol. Maybe I should have gone with something more refined, like a salad. Isn't that what most girls did on a first date? Not that this was a date, or maybe it was a date. Was it a date? Regardless, I think most girls in my position would have ordered a salad. Damn, Alice already threatened to take away my girl card because I didn't own a hairbrush. Who needs a brush? My fingers work fine. Ugh, stupid girls and their stupid brushed hair and their stupid salad lunches making me lose focus of what's important here. Like Edward's mouth, and how it's talking to me.

As we ate we talked more about the basics. Well really, I tried to make him talk so I could watch his mouth. I learned his family moved to L.A. from Chicago when he was in high school. His dad was a cardiac surgeon, his mom was an architect and he had one brother, Emmett. The loves of his life were his baby grand piano and his family dog, Tchai, after the composer, not the drink. I struggled to contain my laugh as I pictured a very serious looking teenaged Edward trying to make an unruly puppy sit still next to him on his piano bench while he played Piano Concerto No. 1. He graduated from law school two years ago and moved straight back to L.A. after being offered a job at the firm he'd interned at during summer breaks. With lots of prodding I learned that he was already pretty successful among new music lawyers because he had a lot of contacts from his years at USC. Secretly I guessed that the fact that he was ridiculously good looking didn't hurt his success either.

When the check came we had a minor squabble over payment, but in the end he at least agreed to go Dutch. After paying the bill we wandered back outside and headed toward the office. There was an obvious reluctance to our steps and I was excited thinking maybe he didn't want our lunch rendezvous to end either. Unfortunately our hour was up and we were standing outside of our office building much sooner than I would have liked. I sort of felt like Cinderella when the clock struck midnight at the ball, only less dramatic, and I would never wear glass shoes. That's just dumb.

Edward rubbed the back of his neck. Clearly that was his nervous tick. Cute. "So, Bella, um, I don't want to sound too forward or anything, or like a stalker, though I'm pretty sure you already called me a stalker, but that's beside the point…"

I grinned. Nervous Edward was a rambler. Double cute. "_Is_ there a point?"

He blushed, "Uh, can I take you to dinner tonight?"

My face must have lit up like a Christmas tree because I saw his posture relax a little when he was brave enough to look at me instead of the cement in front of his shoe.

_Hell yes! _"I would really like that," I replied. That's me, cool as a cucumber.

"Great." He pulled out his cell phone, "Would you be more comfortable if we met somewhere, or I can pick you up?"

I loved that he was polite enough to offer to meet me. I pulled out my phone as well so we would be able to exchange contact information. "I don't mind if you pick me up, but with traffic it might be easier to meet… Oh shit!" I clapped a hand over my mouth at my outburst. As I looked at my phone I saw the date and remembered that Jasper had a gig tonight. "Sorry, oh crap, I'm so sorry. I just remembered, my best friend is playing a show tonight and I told him I would go. Damn. I'm sure he won't mind if I miss one show. I mean, I normally show up early with him to help with sound check, but it's okay…"

"No, that's fine." Edward cut off what was sure to become a lengthy rant.

"No, really, I go to all his shows. He won't mind if I miss one."

Edward shook his head, "No, I mean, if you don't mind we could do that instead."

"Oh." Edward was offering to meet my best friend on our first date. Or was this our second date? Can lunch count as a date? Did I want Edward to meet Jasper? Most guys were put off by my relationship with Jasper, but I guess putting it all out there from the get go couldn't be a bad thing. "Um, are you sure?"

He cocked his head to one side, his damn smirk letting me know I was being obtuse, "Were you listening at all during lunch? I'm a music lawyer, Bella. I do enjoy music."

"Right. Well, if you're sure."

He nodded, "I'm sure. And I can meet you there so you can still go early for sound check."

"That sounds great," I grinned. We exchanged phone numbers and I gave him the information for Jasper's show before we walked back into the office building. We paused outside my office door and I turned to face him, "Thanks for stalking me to lunch."

He laughed, "It was my pleasure."

"I'm sure it was."

"I'll see you tonight, Bella."

"Yup, see you tonight, Edward."

He turned on his heel and sauntered down the hallway while I struggled to contain my silly grin before I faced the inevitable teasing of Kate and Garrett. Even their teasing wouldn't be able to bother me today, though, 'cause I had a most definitely date with hot lawyer man. Now I just had to worry about introducing him to Jasper. Well, crap.

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**First of all, thanks for reading. Second, no SC fans or lawyers were meant any harm in the writing of this chapter ;)**

**Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto: http:/ www . youtube . com/ watch?v=_CMo_mLNz38 (Remove the spaces. And I really can picture Edward playing this.)**

**Thanks to all who have read and/or reviewed and/or put this story on alert. As I said last chapter, this is my first fanfic and your reviews mean a lot… so **_**leave one**_**! Oh, and, if you're curious, you could even leave a review asking who the actress was. 'Cause I wasn't making that tiny little tidbit up.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or anything Twilight related. The title is not really mine either.**

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I was nervous. I do not get nervous. Actually, that's not true; I get nervous when I have to speak in public, and when I'm in a really crowded elevator, and when I'm driving on a tall bridge and it shakes because a big truck or something drives across it at the same time. That freaks me out. Yeah, I'm afraid of bridges. Shut up. It's a legitimate fear called gephyrophobia. You can google it. Apparently I am also nervous when faced with the prospect of a date with Edward. It's not even a very formal date. We aren't having some fancy dinner where I'll have to dust off my rarely used cotillion-style manners. And yes, I can have cotillion-style manners when the occasion calls for it. Renee went through a phase when I was twelve where she was determined I would be a _lady._ I refuse to ever wear white gloves because of it.

"Bella, I love you, but if you don't sit the fuck down and relax, I'm going to slap you."

I rolled my eyes at Jasper. "You're going to slap me? Are you a girl?" I dropped carelessly into a chair at the small table Jasper sat at. I might have been pacing back and forth and crumpling a napkin into a ball over and over again when Jasper snapped at me.

"Says the _girl_ who changed her outfit four times and nearly made me late," he nearly growled at me. Boy did not like to be late to sound check. Not that I blame him, but whatever, we weren't late.

I threw my balled up napkin at his head. Of course he would mock one of my rare girly moments. It wasn't that I was a complete tomboy, or anything. I know how to dress myself to look hot, hair and makeup and all that. I just don't do it on a daily basis. I'm a low maintenance girl who is occasionally willing to put in some extra effort. Tonight called for extra effort.

He threw my napkin back at me and before we could turn it into a childish napkin throwing fight, which would inevitably evolve into throwing food or beverages or guitar picks at each other, Alice appeared at our sides and cuffed Jasper on the back of his head. "Leave Bella alone."

Jasper pouted, rubbing the back of his head, "Damn, Ali, she started it. Why don't you smack her upside the head?"

"Because it would mess up her hair," Alice stated matter-of-factly.

I grinned triumphantly and Jasper scowled, leaning towards me in his chair to do the damage Alice hadn't done. Luckily she caught his arm before he even got remotely close enough. I snickered at Jasper and ducked away from our table quickly so he wouldn't attempt to retaliate again when Alice wasn't paying attention.

Jasper was playing at the Hotel Cafe tonight. It wasn't his first time playing here, but it was exciting nonetheless. Jasper basically hit the ground running the day we graduated from college. He played every open mic night he could find and eventually started booking the smaller singer/songwriter venues around L.A. Now he had some regular gigs and even a few shows at the bigger clubs on Sunset. He had a few offers for record deals, but so far they'd all been very shady and Jasper was, thankfully, super protective of his music. He had yet to be given a legitimate offer, but he wasn't disheartened by it. I was so freaking proud of him and his music. It actually kind of surprised me I was so willing to let Edward be a part of it already. If Edward was in any way unsupportive of my best friend it might be a deal breaker. And that would suck because I haven't even tasted his mouth yet.

I ordered a Jack and ginger and pretended not to be watching for Edward. And by pretended not to watch I clearly mean I stared at the door like it was a freaking oasis in the desert. Jasper wasn't set to play until nine o'clock, but Edward had agreed to meet me at eight so we could hang out a little bit before the show. At five minutes to eight I saw a now familiar crop of messy hair saunter in above the heads of everyone in the crowd. I had to fight to keep myself from letting out a ridiculously girly squeal. What the hell was wrong with me today? At lunch I was contemplating buying a hairbrush and earlier tonight I was tempted to drag Alice into the bathroom with me to ask her if my makeup looked okay. Ugh. Girliness felt really weird on me.

From where I stood I could see Edward scan the room, clearly looking for someone, well, looking for me, obviously. I could also see the other women, and men for that matter, looking him up and down. Back off bitches, he's here with me. Apparently girly Bella was also possessive Bella. Who knew?

Edward's eyes met mine and I was relieved to see his face light up with a smile because I was sure my own grin looked kind of ridiculous. I gave the muscles in my face a stern talking to about behaving themselves. I didn't smile like a cheerleader in high school and I was certainly not going to start now. Though if it was inevitable, Edward was a pretty damn good reason. No! Behave, face muscles, behave.

As he walked closer to me I took in his overall appearance. I'd only seen him in work attire before and I wondered what kind of guy he was on his down time. He was wearing black jeans and a dark grey button-up shirt, untucked with the sleeves rolled and top three buttons undone. Yum. We were eventually standing face to face and had that awkward how-do-I-greet-you moment. In the end he leaned down toward me, a hand gently touching my forearm and his lips nearly touching my cheek as he said, "Hi. You look great tonight."

I had to bite the inside corner of my bottom lip to keep my face muscles from an all out mutiny. I hoped it came off as slightly coy instead of awkwardly painful. "Thanks. So do you." I looked guiltily at the drink in my hand. "Sorry, I already got a drink. Do you want to get one?"

He nodded and followed closely behind me toward the bar. I elbowed my way to the front and slipped into a spot that was almost wide enough for both Edward and I to stand. Well, sort of. I might have intentionally taken up more room than necessary so he would have to touch me again when he leaned in to give the bartender his order. And he did. His chest brushed against my arm as he leaned forward and he even placed a hand on the middle of my back, which made me feel freaking warm and fuzzy all over. When he received his bottle of Heineken we stepped back from the bar and I gestured toward the table that Jasper, Alice and I had occupied earlier, "My friends have a table over there if you want to go sit."

I didn't want to make him feel like we had to hang out with my friends, but he smiled and nodded, "Sure, lead the way."

When we approached the table Jasper stood, reaching a hand to Edward to shake while I made introductions. "Edward, this is my best friend Jasper; Jasper, this is Edward."

Edward smiled politely at Jasper, "Edward Cullen. It's nice to meet you."

Jasper nodded back, "Jasper Whitlock. This here is my girlfriend Alice."

Alice offered Edward a dainty little wave while we all took our seats. Alice and I shared a look over the table. More accurately, Alice gave me a look that clearly said, 'Oh my god, he's beautiful.' And I returned it with a very obvious, 'I know!' We had perfected the art of silent communication. Though maybe we weren't as discreet as I'd hoped because when we looked at the guys Jasper was rolling his eyes and Edward was blushing, but smirking. How anyone could be shy and cocky at the same time was beyond me.

We watched the band that was on before Jasper for a while. They weren't bad, but a little too folksy for my liking. The four of us chatted amiably for most of their set. I was a little surprised by Edward's ability to integrate himself into our banter. Too often guys I'd dated would feel left out the by endless inside joke tangents that Jasper and I would embark on, but Edward hung right with us. When we shared an inside joke he would simply shake his head and smile at me like he thought we were cute. Jasper and I were not cute; we were cool. Edward would soon learn the difference.

Fifteen minutes before Jasper's set he and Alice left the table to go back to the room provided for the musicians. He used this time to make sure he was "relaxed" for his set and I'd learned from a particularly traumatic experience after which I contemplated bleaching my eyes that this little period of "relaxation" was meant for Jasper and Alice only. I shuddered at the mere recollection.

Edward gestured to my empty glass after they left, "You want another drink?"

I shrugged, "Sure. I'll have another Jack and ginger."

He moved back toward the bar to get our drinks and I intentionally didn't watch his every move. First, I didn't want to see anyone checking him out, possessive Bella would threaten to come out swinging and it was a little early in our relationship for that. Second, I could totally play aloof, despite the ache in my cheeks that proved my face muscles didn't listen a whit to what I'd told them earlier. Oh, Edward, you're leaving my side to go the bar where you're sure to be hit on by the harpies that have been eyeballing you all night? That's cool. Flirt with them, ignore them; I don't care either way. I'm going to casually pretend to suddenly be enthralled with the song being played on stage.

A few moments later Edward sat back down, setting my drink in front of me while pulling his chair closer to mine. He non-chalantly draped an arm over the back of my chair while taking a long sip from his beer.

"Good song?" He gestured to the band in front of us.

I shrugged, causing my shoulder to inadvertently brush against his fingertips. "Not particularly."

"Oh, you seemed to be enjoying it."

I shrugged again, not at all trying to recapture the feeling of his fingers on my skin, and took a sip from my drink.

Edward leaned in slightly, speaking directly into my ear over the noise of the bar around us. "Jasper seems really cool. I'm looking forward to hearing his music 'cause honestly, I'm having a hard time picturing him singing anything that's not country."

I laughed aloud at that, "It's the accent, right?"

Edward nodded, smiling along with me. "I'll do you a favor and never tell him you said that if you promise me that you will never ever, ever tell him that I said sometimes he sounds like Jack White."

Edward laughed, "He does?"

I smacked him playfully on the chest, "I can't say it again! He hates The White Stripes."

"Well, he still seems cool. You guys are really close." It wasn't an accusation or a question. Just a fact and he was the first guy in a long time to treat it as such.

I nodded in confirmation, "He's the sibling I never had."

"So you guys never dated?" Edward quirked an eyebrow at me and I could tell he was struggling to play it off so casually. I suppose it was natural that he would wonder. I'm sure I would want to know the same thing if our roles were reversed. I couldn't fault him for that.

"Nope. Never saw him like that," I answered honestly.

We spoke for a few minutes about how Jasper and I had met, how long we knew each other, and then Jasper was taking the stage, pulling his guitar strap over his shoulder. Alice appeared back at our table moments later and I patently ignored her blissfully sated sigh as she sat in the chair closest to the stage. Edward quirked an eyebrow at me, "Did they just…?"

I shuddered, cutting off his question, "Yes. And don't ask how I know for sure."

Edward smirked and I'm pretty sure I heard him mutter, "Way to go, Jasper."

Jasper began his set and we settled in to watch. Alice and I sang along to the lyrics and I watched them make goo-goo eyes at each other when he sang the songs he'd written for her. I managed to keep from rolling my eyes but only because I was too focused on the circles that the pads of Edward's fingers were rubbing into my shoulder. His arm was still only slung over my chair, but he was now keeping in constant contact; either his knee and thigh would brush against mine or his fingers would flutter over the top of my shoulder and arm. I eventually had to stop singing along to Jasper's songs because a high-pitched squeal was threatening to come screaming out of me if I didn't keep absolute control of myself. I had forgotten what the excitement and butterflies of newfound mutual attraction could do to me.

Every once in a while I would glance sideways at Edward to see what he thought of Jasper's music, but he'd always catch me and then we'd both smile like idiots. After the fifth time I leaned in to his side so I could speak quietly and have him still hear me, "I'm glad you invited yourself tonight."

He grinned down at me and spoke equally as quiet, "Me too." I saw his eyes flicker momentarily to my mouth, but the moment passed when Jasper announced his last song. Edward and I both returned our attention to the stage and when Jasper's set ended Edward joined Alice and me as we stood and cheered like fanatic groupies. It wasn't like we were the only ones, Jasper was quite popular and charming as hell so most of the crowd was right there with us, but I appreciated that Edward didn't feel like he had to play it cool.

We all went to the back room to help Jasper load up the little bit of equipment he brought with him. I gave up trying to rein in my mutinous cheeks when I saw Edward enthusiastically congratulate Jasper on his songs. Jasper seemed pleased by his praise and they began a whole conversation about music composition, completely forgetting that Alice and I were standing in the same room. We just rolled our eyes, knowing how long Jasper could talk about his music, and carried out the equipment to Jasper's car on our own, allowing them their manly bonding.

When we walked back into the room both boys' heads turned to me and Jasper gave me his patented you're-so-exasperating-Bella look. Edward looked like he was surprised and slightly… pleased, maybe? It was hard to tell.

"What?" I asked them both.

"You didn't tell me Edward was a music lawyer at Newman Johnson & Holmes," Jasper exclaimed.

I glanced between both of them. "Oh. Uh, I didn't think it mattered? You knew he was a lawyer."

Jasper rolled his eyes and turned to Edward, "You'll have to excuse my best friend. She's utterly uncool when it comes to the music business."

"Hey!"

Edward laughed, "It's alright, man."

"Yeah, don't be a douche, Jas. Just because I don't know who Shady Shady & Holmes are doesn't mean I'm worthless."

I didn't mean to insult the place where Edward worked, but luckily he started cracking up at my side and Jasper and I both looked at him oddly. "Dude, you must really like her 'cause she is not that funny."

Shaking his head, Edward spoke through his laughter, "No, it's just, Newman and Johnson really are kind of shady. Holmes isn't. That was brilliant. I think I'll call it that from now on."

I grinned; Edward thought I was funny. Alice took that moment to pounce on Jasper. She was into that whole sweaty, post-performance thing.

I cringed. "Blech, Alice, let the boy breathe."

Jasper removed a hand from Alice's ass to flip me off. Thank you, Jasper. Way to show the guy I would like to be my next boyfriend that we are mature. Not to mention the make out twins were my ride home. "Jasper, seriously, I rode here with you."

No response.

"Jasper!"

No response.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Edward who was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Nervous Edward returns! He gave me a small smile, "If you'd like, um, I could give you a ride home. Then you wouldn't have to wait for them."

I nodded, smiling at his offer. "Yeah, thanks." I walked over to Jasper and Alice, placing a hand on each of their foreheads. I forcibly pulled their faces apart and they both glared at me fiercely. Before Jasper could curse at me I told him I was getting a ride home with Edward and then pushed their faces back together. Alice tried to mumble something about their plans to go to another club on Sunset, but I ignored her. The club scene was not my thing, and I'd take a ride home with Edward over having wannabe actors grind on me any day of the week.

Edward was the perfect gentleman, opening the car door for me when we got to it. I wanted to mock him for driving a pretentious BMW, but I really couldn't. Everyone in L.A. drove a BMW and I wasn't much better with my Audi, which had been a graduation gift from my mom and Phil. It was L.A.; driving a comfortable, reliable car was paramount because of the inevitable amount of time spent in traffic.

I was surprised when Edward let me control the music on the drive; most guys were ridiculous about that kind of thing. Who am I kidding? I'm ridiculous about it. No one but me touches my iPod. I put The Black Keys on in the background and we spent most of the drive talking about Jasper's show. Edward really liked his sound and was surprised he hadn't been given big offers yet. I told him that Jasper was really protective of his music and refused to sign the first contract just for a chance at fame.

"Um, can I just… can I just say that I really like that you didn't tell him I'm a music lawyer," Edward said genuinely.

"Oh. Um, you're welcome? I honestly didn't think about it."

He nodded emphatically, "I know and that is what I appreciate. I have to admit that when you told me at lunch your best friend was a musician I was afraid you would see me as a contact."

I frowned, "Oh. Wow, sorry, the thought didn't even cross my mind."

"I could tell, or at least, I was hoping that I could tell you didn't see me that way. But then tonight when he was genuinely surprised that I was a music lawyer when he asked what kind of law I practice I knew you never even considered it."

"Am I to believe it wouldn't be the first time?"

"Yeah, or the second."

I grimaced, "Hollywood sucks like that. Everyone wants something from you."

"Exactly. I would guess you've gotten the same treatment working for an agency."

I nodded emphatically, "Oh yes. Luckily I can smell bullshit from a mile away, so I've never been burned by it, but it still sucks when you meet someone cool and they just want to know you for what you can get them. And I know Jasper would never think of you that way either, as a contact."

"I know. I got that feeling from him. Though I did offer to look over any contracts he gets if he wants me to."

"Really?" I was touched that he would offer when he had every right to be concerned he was being used. "You don't have to do that. I don't want there to be a conflict of interest or anything."

Edward grinned, "Jasper said the exact same thing."

We reached my apartment and Edward insisted on walking me to my door. This was after he insisted on opening the car door for me again. He claimed that his momma raised a gentleman. I was just thinking how cute it was that he called her his 'momma.' So adorable and so not suave.

When we stood at my front door I debated about inviting him in, but I really didn't want him to think I was inviting him in for _that_. I do not have sex on a first date. Period. He didn't seem to be expecting an invitation. I pulled my keys out of my purse and he reached a hand toward my face, stopping just short and instead running a strand of my hair that fell over my shoulder through his thumb and index finger. The gesture was intimate but oddly comfortable, like he didn't even give it a second thought.

He gave me his now familiar smirk, "I had a really great time tonight, Bella."

"Me too." I didn't trust myself to speak more than monosyllabic words.

"Can I call you tomorrow?"

I grinned. He didn't even want to wait the customary three days. Hells yes. "Sure, I'd like that."

He smiled. "Great." His eyes flickered down to my lips and he leaned forward kissing only the corner of my mouth sweetly before pressing another small kiss to my forehead. "I'll see you later, Bella."

I gave him what was most certainly a dreamy kind of smile. "Yup. See you, Edward."

He turned and walked back to his car. I didn't stick around to see if he looked back at me because if I didn't get on the other side of my door stat I was going to swoon all over the hallway and I didn't want anyone to see me looking so sappy. I slammed it behind me and immediately leaned back against it before sliding down to the ground. The smile absolutely would not leave my face.

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**AN: Sorry this chapter took longer to update. I really do plan on updating at least once a week, this chapter was just stubborn about being written and I'm still not thrilled with it. I blame it on the fact that I haven't been on a first date in ten years.**

**Thanks for reading. **

**Leave a review! It would make my day, honest. And I'm feeling nosy, so in your review tell me, **_**what is the last song you listened to**_**? The last song I listened to was "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Anything resembling Twilight isn't mine.**

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"Really? We're actually going to stay on the phone when I can see you walking toward me?" I scoffed, stopping on the sidewalk when I saw Edward round the corner a block ahead of me.

I couldn't see his eye roll, but I could practically hear it in his voice. "Yes, Bella, we are going to stay on the phone. Can you hear me from where you're standing? No. Would you prefer that I shout over the early morning commuters that I think you look pretty this morning? 'Cause I can do that."

Luckily we were far enough away from each other that he couldn't see my grin or blush, or _my_ eye roll for that matter, but I didn't put the whole shouting over the crowd thing past him. "No! Don't shout it. And thank you. You look pretty too."

This time I heard him scoff. "Men do not look pretty Bella, we look handsome. Ruggedly handsome, even."

"I don't know, should we take a poll? I think quite a few women on this street would say that you're pretty." I glanced at the people around me, certain I wasn't the only one admiring his prettiness.

"Handsome. Ruggedly handsome," he insisted.

I nearly snorted when he was close enough for me to pick out the details of his clothing. "You're wearing a pink tie, Edward. You cannot be ruggedly anything while wearing pink."

"Hey! I like my pink tie," he pouted

"You would like a pink tie," I grinned. "Can I hang up my phone now?"

Edward had kept his word about calling me on Saturday and we spent nearly two hours on the phone. Sunday we met for coffee and spent three hours being scowled at by a surly barista. This morning he texted me while I was driving to work and instead of texting back I called him, the wrath of Oprah and all that. Turns out he was on his way to work too. Apparently we tend to park in opposite directions of our office building so here we were, looking like idiots who talk on their phones when they're standing a few feet from each other. Alright, it was a hundred feet to start, but now he was close enough that I could see him smoothing the pink tie he was pouting over and I felt silly still holding my phone to my ear.

He grinned as he closed the last few feet between us, stepping right up to me and leaning down to press a kiss to the cheek that wasn't being blocked my phone. "Fine, spoilsport."

I heard him both in my ear and in front of my face, which made me laugh. As he stepped back I hung up my phone and he did the same.

"Good morning, handsome."

His smile was smug. "See, I knew you'd come around to my way of thinking. Good morning."

"Shall we?" I gestured to our office building.

"After you."

Outside my office door we paused and Edward shoved his hands in his pockets, eyeing the floor. I freaking adored nervous Edward. "Are you free for lunch?"

I grimaced, "Um, I don't know. I'm supposed to sit in on a client meeting with Aro, for that writer I told you about, and I don't know how long we'll be."

He shrugged and smiled, thankfully not thinking I was blowing him off. "Alright, well if you do finish before lunchtime you can text me or something."

"I will," I nodded.

He gave me his cocky smile as he turned to leave. "See you around, Bella."

I was learning that it was normal for him to be adorably nervous one minute and annoyingly cocky the next. "Bye, Edward."

I spent the next hour or so getting ready to meet with the writer, Seth Clearwater, who I was hoping would be our next big author. I read his manuscript when it came through our office a few months ago and it was the first time I had ever pushed Aro to give anything I'd read an actual shot. Aro preferred to work with screenwriters, but it was his fault for running a freaking _literary_ agency, that includes manuscripts. I pointed this out to him many times during my employment and normally received a disdainful smirk for my trouble.

I compiled all the research I'd done on Seth and knew that he was going to be a hard sell. It seemed he had a few top agents vying for his attention and the subsequent two-hour meeting proved I was right. I think Seth knew Aro preferred screenwriters, but it was still a productive meeting and I had high hopes that he would pick Aro for his representation.

The best part of the meeting, however, was that we finished just before lunchtime. I mean yes, it could be good for my career and all that, but lunch with Edward was good for my health. Probably. Hot lawyers were good for your mental health, right? I bet I could argue that in a court of law.

I had just returned to my office and was about to text him that I was free for lunch when Aro came bounding in from his own office with _that _look. I knew that look and it wasn't a bad look, per se, but it didn't bode well for my just-within-my-grasp lunch date with Edward.

Sure enough, Aro grinned at me and said the words I dreaded: "Bella! Take a walk with me!"

These words didn't cause me dread because I was worried we were going to have a conversation that could steer the course of my career. No, these words freaked me out because the last time he said them to me I ended up at a beatnik poetry reading in a questionable area of Hollywood. I was even wearing a beret at one point, though I was still quite unsure how that came about. At least I avoided taking a turn on the bongo drum.

This was the problem with being Aro's favorite; he liked to share his interests with me. When his interests included sampling the Swiss chocolates from down the street or taking in the Andy Warhol exhibit at one of the art galleries nearby, I was all for it. Sadly, I doubted his interests today included the sexy lawyer from upstairs. Oh well, maybe I'd get some cupcakes from Sprinkles out of this excursion.

I grabbed my purse, with a whole-hearted, "sounds great," in Aro's direction. I didn't fail to see Kate's mocking smirk as she sat at the front desk or Garrett's poorly disguised snickering behind his screenplay. Damn them for enjoying my plight. I might have childishly flipped them off behind my back as I followed Aro out the door.

As usual it was a sunny, if slightly smoggy, day in Southern California. Being February, it wasn't particularly warm, but it wasn't cold either. We headed down Rodeo Drive and I smiled and nodded as Aro talked about the current state of Hollywood, the movies coming out this weekend, who was mostly likely to win at the upcoming Academy Awards; all topics I was very used to chatting about in my line of work. I was so busy trotting along in my comfort zone that I didn't even notice we were heading for the front doors of Cartier. That was, until we actually walked into Cartier.

Somehow I had failed to realize that Valentine's Day was that upcoming weekend. Not a big deal considering Valentine's Day wasn't really my thing whether I had a Valentine or not, but the ridiculously high-end jewelry store was obviously not so cavalier about the occasion. I supposed Valentine's Day _was_ a typical excuse for wealthy men to buy expensive jewels for their wives. Or mistresses as the case tended to be in these parts.

As soon as we were through the doors the sales associates descended on us like vultures, in a very refined, worthy of Cartier way, of course. Aro headed straight for the main display, which featured a number of diamond rings that would require me to lift weights if I ever had the pleasure of wearing one. I tried to stand inconspicuously away from the display and Aro, but he gestured me over to him.

"Look at these, Bella. Which style do you like?" he asked earnestly.

I shuffled over and gave the rings a cursory glance. "Um, these, I guess. I don't really like the colored stones and I like the more classic styles, personally."

To my horror, I realized that several of the sales associates around the store were surreptitiously watching Aro and me and then giving each other pointed glances. Oh my hell, they thought I was with him. _With_ him, with him. I shuddered at the thought, grudgingly admitting to myself that it could certainly appear that way. Aro was a well-dressed, older businessman who walked into freaking Cartier with a much younger and obviously not in his socio-economic bracket woman. Sweet mother of Moses, they all thought I was his girlfriend, or his mistress, or his call girl. Okay, maybe not his call girl, because this wasn't "Pretty Woman" and I didn't think men actually bought jewelry for call girls, but it was still horrifying.

I took a few steps away from Aro under the pretense of looking at other displays and tried to hide the fact that I was freaking out about being in a jewelry store with my boss around Valentine's Day. Oh crap, it even sounded inappropriate in my head.

I spent the next ten minutes trying not to audibly gag each time I thought about how our situation looked to everyone in the store. Aro was kind of a sensitive man and I figured my gagging at the thought of being with him might offend him.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we stepped outside.

My relief was short-lived when we stepped into David Yurman. Kill me now; he was going to take me into every jewelry store on Rodeo Drive to look at their fricking Valentine's displays.

And he did.

After David Yurman, where one associate was a little too obvious when he kept leading us to the engagement ring displays, _shudder_, we went to Harry Winston.

Harry freaking Winston. Standing in Harry Winston, admiring some of the most amazing jewelry in the world should be a magical experience for a girl. It wasn't. It was horrifying. I mean, Harry Winston was the owner of the fricking Hope Diamond. As in, belonged to King Louis XIV, most famous diamond in the world, Hope Diamond. At least, that's what the catalog that was thrust into my hand by a smug salesman told me. Not that the diamond was here, or anything, but still, being in this store was an experience. And not one I would likely forget for all the wrong reasons. One worker in particular winked at me as Aro discussed the cut and clarity and sparkle quality of a whole bunch of diamond earrings.

I woefully accepted my fate as the subject of the employees' gossip mill when we entered Van Cleef & Arpels. So they would think I was Aro's mistress. Whatever. They were probably just jealous that they couldn't find a sugar daddy for themselves. Ew. I couldn't even think the term 'sugar daddy' without throwing up a little in my mouth.

I plastered on my smile, knowing Aro was having the time of his life, as he always did on these little outings. If he was aware of the gossip we were inciting he was doing a damn good job of appearing ignorant. Or maybe he was secretly enjoying it. Ugh, I was going to have to store that thought away for pondering at another time.

Aro was gleefully telling a saleswoman that I prefer the simpler, more classic styles of rings after she kept showing him these big, flashy things when the future father of my children waltzed through the door.

No. This could not be happening.

I stood there, frozen and blinking at Edward like an idiot.

Over the blood rushing through my ears I heard Aro say, "What about this ring, Bella? Is this more your style?"

I saw surprise and shock cross Edward's features before I turned to face the display Aro was gesturing to. My mind was barely able to keep up with my surroundings as I took in the perfectly exquisite ring.

"Yeah, that one is really beautiful," I mumbled.

Aro seemed pleased at knowing my preferences. "See, I told you she has wonderful taste," he bragged to the saleswoman.

I wanted to disappear. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. I wanted to live in a world where I was Hermione and I had a time turner so I could go back to the beginning of this day and tell myself to call in sick. I briefly wondered why my mind always drifted to Harry Potter, but quickly remembered there were more important things at hand than my fixation on a magical world.

I turned around to see Edward staring at me with a confused and slightly revolted expression. I couldn't blame him. It was lunchtime and I was clearly not at the office, which meant I was supposed to be at lunch with him. At least that was the implication this morning. And he had no idea that the man I was with was Aro, my boss, and even if he did, this couldn't look good. I cursed myself for not sending a text to him telling him that my crazy boss was taking me on a walking tour of Rodeo Drive's finest jewelry.

Our stare-off was interrupted when a clerk asked Edward if he needed any help. Apparently he was there to pick up a watch for his mother. He was running an errand for his mother on his lunch break. I swooned. And then I died a little inside. He was never going to speak to me again. I was never going to get to meet his parents and we were never going to get married and I would never have adorable messy-haired, green-eyed children with an ear for music and a penchant for hot dogs. Not that I was getting ahead of myself or anything.

After collecting the watch, Edward returned to the front of the store and he paused, clearly puzzling out something to say to me. I assumed I was still gaping at him like an idiot, though I hadn't really been aware of myself or anything around me since he walked in the door. My faculties decided to kick back in, luckily, and I stepped toward him in an effort to explain the situation.

"Edward, I…"

"Ready, Bella? I'll take you to lunch now. Can't have people think I'm starving you, dear," Aro unintentionally interrupted.

Before I could give any form of response to either man, Edward was out the door. As Aro and I headed back up the street I realized that the horrified, fish-out-of-water expression I gave Edward could easily have passed as a look of guilt.

Damn it all to hell. I hated Mondays.

###

**Thanks for reading! Leave me a review and I'll love you forever. True story. **

**Also, follow me on twitter (http:/twitter . com/#!/ShrtHappyLife) and nag me about updating. I work better under pressure and your nagging will work, I promise.**

**Super special thanks to **_**Cheyenne Masen**_** for making my day and unknowingly motivating me to write this chapter. And a special thanks to **_**Sandra-angeleyes-87**_**, **_**iluvtwilight2**_**, and **_**HeatherA9**_** for being all around awesome readers.**

**Nosey question for this chapter: What is your favorite and/or least favorite word? For me, my favorite word is 'moxie' and my least favorite is 'panties.' Ugh, it makes me cringe (don't know why, just does).**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Twilight's not mine. No really, it's not. I'm not claiming it. You take it.**

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To say I was surly when I returned to the office would be an understatement of epic proportions. When Kate and Garrett asked I was only able to mutter something along the lines of, "Fricking Cartier, fricking Harry Winston. I fricking hate Van Cleef and Arpels." I'm pretty sure they laughed over my continued use of my favorite non-curse word, but I was glowering enough that they didn't even bother to mock me about my little field trip, so I knew it had to be bad.

I tried really hard not to be pissed off at Aro. Being pissed at your boss for ruining your personal life just didn't seem very professional. However, if he unintentionally screwed up any chances I had of becoming the future Mrs. Hot Lawyer Man I might have to find a new job. Civility would not be in the cards if that were the case.

Aro left work shortly after our lovely excursion to the end of my future happiness and an hour or so after that Kate kicked me out. She claimed I was ruining the work atmosphere with my mood and I could just take the script I was reading home to work from there.

I think she kicked me out to fulfill some kinky fantasy she and Garrett had about having sex at work. I mean, sometimes their gooey love ruined the work atmosphere for me, but I never kicked them out. Okay, that's not true. Watching them fall in love shortly after Kate started working at the agency was the cutest thing ever, not to mention I took inordinate amounts of pleasure mocking them as they stumbled their way through the awkwardness of dating a coworker in a tiny office. And I might have kicked them out of the office once, but it was because I was sick of seeing their inappropriate touching when they thought they were being stealthy.

I grudgingly took my crappy screenplay and drove home, cursing every idiotic LA driver as I went. Unfortunately, I lived approximately three miles from work, so I didn't get a whole lot of frustration out during the commute. During rush hour, I would have had a good twenty or thirty minutes of purging my aggravation on the unknowing drivers around me. Not being rush hour, I had about six minutes; not even enough time to get a good rant about a crappy lane change going.

Slamming the door to my apartment was slightly more cathartic. Enough, at least, that I slammed the door to my bedroom for good measure. I was knee-deep in my wallow routine when Jasper walked through the door.

His wide smile was mocking me as he grabbed a beer from the fridge and plopped next to me on the couch.

"Alright, your ex's sweats, a pint of Chubby Hubby, and Jeff Buckley at a decibel that he was not really meant to be played. Tell Jasper what's troubling you." He pulled my legs across his lap, his expression that of fake solemnity.

"I hate it when you refer to yourself in third person, Jas."

He leveled a look at me, knowing I was stalling. "Bella," he said my name in his way that let me know I was going to spill my guts no matter what.

I frowned around my spoon, making sure not to leave behind any peanut butter. "I'm never going to have hot lawyer man's babies!"

To Jasper's credit he waited a whole three seconds, and swallowed his beer, before busting out laughing. "You want to have lawyer man's babies? That's a new development."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter because I'm never going to now. Stupid Aro and his stupid field trips and his stupid mistress."

"Wait, Aro has a mistress?"

"_I'm_ Aro's mistress!" I threw my hands up in exasperation.

"Um, gross. Bells, what the hell are you talking about?"

So I explained the whole unfortunate debacle to him. As my best friend it was his job to lend a sympathetic ear and tell me it was all going to work out. Being Jasper, he instead mocked me at every turn and told me I was an idiot for gaping at Edward like a fish instead of _using my words_, his emphasis, not mine.

He had a point, but I was freaking wallowing here, he wasn't supposed to be logical. I needed a new best friend. Where was Alice? She would understand my need for a good wallow session, girl style. Blech. Edward really had turned me into a girlie girl.

"So how are you going to fix it?" Jasper asked as he stole an enormous scoop of my ice cream.

"I dunno. Call him, I guess. Explain what he really saw."

"There's the Bella I know! Go get him, Tiger!" He fondly punched me in the shoulder.

I wrinkled my nose at him, rubbing my arm. "That was not a 'go get him, Tiger' moment, Tony. What next? I'm grrrreat?"

Jasper glared at me as I laughed hysterically at my own joke. He grabbed one of the couch cushions and was beating me over the head with it when my cell phone rang. I attempted to escape his attack and ended up falling on the floor, holding my phone over my head in victory. Victory over what I wasn't sure, but I claimed it all the same.

"Hello?" I answered quickly before the call went to voicemail.

"Bella?"

I dropped the phone and slapped a hand over my mouth. Jasper looked at me like I was crazy.

"It's Edward!" I whisper screamed at Jasper. He continued to eyeball me like an idiot.

"Hot lawyer man?" He asked loudly. "Well then pick up the phone, genius."

I nodded, before scrambling for the phone that fell somewhere around the couch.

I cleared my throat, "Edward?"

He was laughing. Why was he laughing?

"Did I just hear someone call me hot lawyer man?"

Ah frick. "He's my boss!"

Well _that_ was not what I meant to say.

"Your boss called me hot lawyer man?" He sounded confused, which wasn't surprising.

"Um, no." I flipped Jasper off. It was his fault I was being inarticulate. Completely his fault. "Today, at lunch. That was my boss."

"Oh. Um, okay."

"No, wait. I mean. Okay, let me explain," I might have sounded desperate, but I really didn't want him to hang up.

He chuckled on the other end of the phone. "I was planning on letting you. I was actually calling 'cause, uh, I just, I wanted to apologize for not saying anything when I saw you. I just wasn't expecting to see you there, like that, I guess."

I was too relieved at my chance to explain to even revel in my love of Edward's nerves making an appearance in his quasi-apology. I just dove in, "Yes, exactly. I was not prepared to see you there and, you see, my boss is kind of weird. I know I told you that before, but he likes to go on, well, I call them field trips, but he likes to take me to really random places. Once I ended up at an art auction for horse sculptures made out of crow bars because he wanted to know if I thought they were kitschy."

Oh god, stop rambling, Bella. Stop rambling before you scare the beautiful man away with your crazy. "But that's a different story," I continued. "Today he decided he wanted to take me on a walking tour of Rodeo Drive's finest jewelry establishments. I have no idea why. And for some reason he always wants to know what I think of everything, so he kept asking about my preferences. I blame it on the fact that he has to rely on our opinions at work. And I don't know why I'm his favorite, but I am, so he always takes_ me_ on these field trips and that's what you saw today. He dragged me out right after the meeting and before I could text you and I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for rambling, but I just had to get that out."

Jasper was rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard. I shot him a glare, but focused back on my conversation.

"Uh, so you were at the jewelry store with your boss randomly looking at jewelry because he's a codependent employer that needs to know your opinion on everything? Is that about right?"

I sighed in relief, "Exactly. Yes."

"So who called me 'hot lawyer man'?" I knew he was smirking, I just knew it.

"Really? After my whole lengthy ramble you're still on the hot lawyer man thing?" I rolled my eyes. Men and their egos.

"Yup. That, and I want to know why you're not at work at three in the afternoon. Don't you work normal business hours?"

"Yes." I had to wonder, "How do you know I'm not at work?"

"Because I dropped by to see if I could talk to you. To apologize for walking out."

Well that made sense. At least one of us was logical. "Oh. Um, I'm at home."

"That's what Garrett told me. And Kate mentioned something about moping or wallowing, but I didn't really follow her."

"Damn it, that ho," I scowled.

Edward laughed. "Did you just call your coworker a ho?"

"Well it's girl code," I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "You're not supposed to tell the guy that your friend likes that she's pouting because she thinks she ruined her chances with him. It's in the handbook."

"So you like me?" I could hear his smile through the phone, though I couldn't tell if it was mocking or sincere. "And I _knew_ you all had a handbook!"

"Honestly, the things you fixate on. So are you still at my office?"

"Ah, no." He sounded unsure of himself. "I'm actually, uh, kind of on my way to your apartment."

"What!" I didn't mean to shout into the phone, but I was so not presentable at the moment. I might be a low maintenance girl, but oversized sweats, a ratty ponytail, and the remnants of ice cream on my face read a little more 'slob' than they do 'low maintenance.'

"Yeah, sorry, I don't want to be presumptuous, I just didn't want this to turn into some big misunderstanding, or for you to think that I jumped to some crazy conclusions."

I smirked, "Yeah, but you did, didn't you?"

"Well, I mean, I might have maybe considered that you were a gold-digger, but then I really thought about it and I figured there had to be some explanation. That or you're a really good liar."

"Dude, you just called me a gold-digger," I frowned.

"No, I said the thought crossed my mind, but then I realized you obviously aren't."

"Uh huh."

"Can you open your door now?"

"You're here?" I began scrubbing at my face furiously and quickly redid my ponytail to tame the incessant flyaways.

"Yes."

I opened our front door to see a charmingly disheveled Edward standing at the threshold. It was obvious he had been running his hand through his hair all afternoon. But the best part was that he was holding flowers, a small bouquet of white lilies.

"Can I hang up my phone now?" I grinned, repeating my line from that morning.

He leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek. "Spoilsport," he played along before hanging up his own phone and handing me the flowers.

I accepted them and ignored the fact that I was blushing profusely. "So does this mean we get a do-over for the day?"

He smiled, my favorite genuine smile. "Sounds good to me."

Jasper appeared at my side. "Hey, Edward."

They did the little handshake half-hug that is taught in the guy code handbook. They had one, too; I was sure.

"Hey, man." He turned to me then. "So_ Jasper_ called me hot lawyer man?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my gosh, you're obsessed. I'm going to put these in water," I gestured to the flowers.

I moved toward the kitchen while Edward came in and took off his suit jacket.

Jasper snickered, "I'm pretty sure she even has you in her phone as 'Hot Lawyer Man.'"

"You suck, Jasper, you know that? You're no longer my best friend. I'm demoting you." Honestly, why did I keep him around? Next time I saw Alice I was telling her that he doesn't really have a lumpy pillow; he just keeps his baby blanket shoved under the pillowcase.

"You always say that. And I can see the wheels turning, woman. You tell Alice about you know what and I will murder you in your sleep," he glared and pointed at me. Damn, we knew each other too well.

Edward smiled at our interaction. "So does that mean I _am_ in your phone under that nickname?"

"No," I pouted.

Of course Jasper, being the craptastic, no-longer best friend that he is, snatched my phone from the table where I'd put it on my way to the kitchen and started to scroll through my contacts. I tackled him.

"No! No, no, no."

He managed to pry himself out of my grasp and stood quickly, holding the phone out of my reach. The idiot was tall.

"You are dead to me and I'm so telling Alice about your baby bee," I glared, using his nickname for his blanket. Not very imaginative, but he throws a mini tantrum if anyone points that out.

He just chuckled and shook his head before showing the screen of my phone to Edward. Edward grinned and turned to me. "Nice. I'm flattered."

I scowled, "Yeah, well, that's your prerogative, but now you're on my list. _And_ I'll be changing that entry as soon as cowboy here gives me my phone back."

Edward pouted, "Don't change it." And Jasper glared, "Don't call me cowboy."

I grinned smugly at them both before turning and walking directly to my room. Stupid boys. Edward followed me, as I admittedly hoped he would. He closed the door to my room behind him as I sat in the chair at my desk. When he turned to face me his hand went to the back of his neck, fisting the hair there. I could tell he just realized that he basically invited himself into my bedroom and we were now alone. In my bedroom.

He rocked back and forth on his heels like he wasn't sure where to go. I bit my lip to hide my smile. The gentleman his mother instilled in him was obviously displeased.

"You're welcome to sit on my bed, Edward."

He blushed. "Sorry. I didn't really mean to just follow you. I just, do you ever feel like we've known each other longer than a few days?"

I smiled and nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. Sometimes I felt more at ease with him than I should considering we'd only begun speaking to each other five days ago, even if I had admired my view of him for several months.

He sat rigidly on the end of my bed, causing me to roll my eyes. "Go ahead and get comfortable. I'm sitting here in sweats. The least you can do is take of your shoes and tie, right?"

"I think you look beautiful."

His cheeks turned pink, and I knew he hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. He busied himself with doing as I suggested and scooting further back on my bed so he could lean against the wall. I watched him take in my room as he got settled. My walls were painted navy blue and all the furniture was a dark ebony. The wall opposite my desk was covered floor-to-ceiling by black and white photos of various sizes and subjects. The biggest photos were framed landscapes, but there were a lot of snapshots of my friends and me and a few of my family. I also had an amazing balcony with two French doors that had a fantastic view of Westwood and UCLA's campus. It was currently flooding my room with bright afternoon sunshine.

"You have a great view. I always thought UCLA's campus was pretty."

I nodded, "Thanks. I had to rock, paper, scissors Jasper for the room when we moved in. It's smaller than his, but worth the view."

We were quiet for a few minutes as he surveyed the rest of the room. I had an overflowing bookshelf and piles of books on my floor, not to mention a load of CDs.

"I meant to thank you for the flowers. I love lilies, but you really didn't have to."

He shrugged, "Every girl should get flowers once in a while."

"Especially when she's being called a gold-digger," I smirked.

He huffed, "I said I didn't_ really_ think that!"

"Sure you didn't."

"I thought we were getting a do-over for today. Shouldn't that mean that you can't bring it up?"

"Fine." I stood from my desk and moved to join him on the bed, sitting close enough that our shoulders were touching. "So, aren't you a busy and important lawyer? Are you going to be in trouble for leaving the office early?"

He shook his head. "I didn't have anything too pressing, and I wasn't being very productive anyway."

"Because of events that can no longer be brought up?"

"Because of events that can no longer be brought up," he nodded.

So instead we talked about my book collection, and our conversation spilled from there. Before we knew it, the sun had mostly set and Jasper was yelling through my door about ordering pizza.

Edward looked at his watch in surprise. "I should get going."

I tugged on his hand, which had I been holding ever since we discussed the merits of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's unique vocals and our hands had not so accidentally brushed for the sixth time. Not that I counted or anything. "You don't have to go. You're welcome to eat with us. I mean, unless you have somewhere you need to be."

He shook his head, "Nope. Nowhere to be. Are you sure?"

"Of course."

"Okay."

I grinned and yelled at Jasper, "Make it two larges, Jas! And don't pout about sharing; it makes you look like a toddler! Besides, Alice won't love you if you turn into a fatty!" He always claimed to hate eating pizza when other guys were around because he would inevitably get less pizza than if it were just the two of us. I heard him grumbling on the other side of the door, but couldn't make any of it out.

Edward chuckled and gently squeezed my fingers in his hand so I would turn to face him.

"Um, I was wondering, what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

I shrugged, "No plans."

"Do you want to go to the beach with me? My parents' house is in Manhattan Beach, but they're going to be in Santa Barbara for one of my dad's conferences." He spoke quickly, like his confidence would give out if he gave himself time to pause.

I grinned, the butterflies in my stomach settling after momentarily going crazy at the mention of his parents. I didn't think we were at the meet-the-parents stage yet. "Sure, I'd like that."

He grinned back and, as natural as breathing, he leaned forward and kissed me. It was sweet and chaste and even if just the tiniest part of me, like maybe ninety percent of me, wished we were ripping each other's clothes off in desperation, it was everything a first kiss should be. Except that it felt like I'd been kissing him my whole life.

His free hand moved to the back of my neck and pulled me infinitesimally closer. My eyes drifted shut and I felt my body relax into his. His inner gentleman must have been working over time after waltzing into my room like he owned the place because I was doing my best to walk him to first base, but he insisted on striking out. Still, making out on my bed like a couple of prudish fourteen-year-olds was fun. It didn't even feel like we'd been kissing for very long before the sound of Jasper's fist on my door made us jump apart.

"Quit making out, Bells! Pizza's here!"

Edward and I both laughed awkwardly, and I tamped down the ridiculous feeling that I'd been caught out by a big brother. Jasper and I had both caught each other in far worse states of, ahem, coupling. Hell, just this weekend I caught him and Alice in our laundry room. Ugh, that reminded me, I needed to bleach some surfaces before I even considered washing my clothes again.

Edward moved off my bed and held out his hand to me. I grinned at his debauched look. Yep, whatever higher power created this man definitely intended for his hair to look that way. I supposed I could suffer through being the person to make sure the task was completed on a regular basis. I could take one for the team. I took his offered hand and he pulled me to him, kissing me once more on the lips before dropping a kiss to my forehead. "Better not keep him waiting."

He pulled me along behind him and I definitely did not take the opportunity to check out his ass and plan how I could get my hands on it the next time we decided to act like teenagers. I wasn't even bothered by the fact that I knew Jasper was going to give me hell over our current appearances. Nope. I only cared that Edward was holding my hand and his mouth was as hella awesome as I expected. Ha, I even thought the word 'hella.'

I freaking loved Mondays.

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**Well, what did you think? Let me know in a review (I respond to all of them, promise) and while you're at it, tell me who your favorite Disney prince is, 'cause I'm nosey and stuff. My favorite is Aladdin ;) **

**A humongous thank you to anyone that rec'ed this story anywhere. I don't know where it got rec'ed (except for Sunfeathers, whom I now adore endlessly), but apparently it did and that is absolutely amazing and flattering. I'm thrilled people seem to be enjoy my little foray into fiction. (If you did recommend this somewhere, please let me know so I can thank you personally.)**

**Extra love to JackieJones for correcting some errors in previous chapters (any in this are completely mine) and especially to my Thalia (a.k.a. Cheyenne Masen) who, it turns out, shares my brain. (And a million points to anyone who gets the Thalia reference (think Greek, people).)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Twilight and any Twilight-related aspects of this story are not mine. If you try to sue me, Hot Lawyer Man will be angry, and we don't want that.**

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It was amazing how quickly my workweek went when I was actually looking forward to going to work every day. Well, I wasn't really looking forward to going to _work_, let's not get carried away. Edward was good, but he wasn't _that_ good. It was more that I now liked going to my office… and having lunch… and looking up every time someone walked down the hall… and staring at my phone during our random, workday text-a-thons.

Before I knew it, Friday had come and gone and Saturday morning found Edward knocking on my door just before nine a.m. Being the personification of perfection, Edward was wise enough to arrive on my doorstep with a caramel latte.

While Edward and I saw each other every morning (and we kissed every morning and he held my hand every morning and I smiled like a big buffoon every morning, but I digress) it was only for a few brief minutes, and it was always after a commute and coffee. As such, I'd been able to keep the loveliness that is morning Bella under wraps. Today, there was no buffer commute and Little Miss Sunshine, as Jasper called my morning personality, was threatening to rear her frightfully hostile head.

It did help that Edward was adorable, or, er, manly – and _ruggedly handsome_, of course – because it was hard to be really bitchy with him smiling at me all sheepishly like he was.

"I, uh, remembered you got a caramel latte when we had coffee last Sunday. I hope that's okay," he said as he gestured to the drink in my hand.

I nodded and even let him kiss me before taking a sip of the coffee. (Little Miss Sunshine was not generally the affectionate type.) I inhaled the glorious aroma as I took a sip and could literally feel my brain waking up. And it became very obvious to me that my brain had been asleep when I actually looked at Edward again.

I spluttered around the paper cup I was holding. Edward wearing worn jeans, a t-shirt, and, heaven help me, glasses, was the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. His jaw was dusted with stubble and his hair was unkempt and I just wanted to lick him. I refrained. Outwardly, at least. In my head I was treating his stubbly jaw like a lollipop.

Edward engaged in some sort of chitchat with Jasper as soon as I gestured him inside, and it became glaringly obvious that Edward was a morning person. Damn. Well, I guess no one is perfect.

I ignored their conversation and went back to my room to get my duffle bag. Edward was endearingly awkward yesterday when he asked me if I would mind making it an overnight trip. Manhattan Beach was only thirty or forty minutes away, but he wanted us to be able to enjoy the whole weekend there.

"You kids have fun this weekend," Jasper winked at us as we moved toward the front door. Subtle, Jas, very subtle.

Edward blushed at his implication, but I leveled Jasper with Little Miss Sunshine's patented 'you are not anywhere near as amusing as you think you are' stare.

He rolled his eyes at me and opened his mouth again, probably to tell me I really needed to get laid, but I clapped my hand over his mouth. "Don't say it, Jas. And do not, under any circumstances, have sex on my bed this weekend."

I pulled my hand away to see Jasper pouting, "But-"

I shook my head and cut him off, "Nope, not even if there's a huge earthquake and my room is the only room left intact and you and Alice are the last people left on earth to procreate."

He frowned, "Damn. There goes that excuse. What about your floor?"

I shook my head and pulled Edward out the door behind me, shouting my goodbye behind us.

"No glove, no love!" Jasper shouted back, right before the door closed. Jerk always had to get the last word.

I knew Edward was probably seconds away from stuttering out some gentlemanly denial of any plans to seduce me, which I was sure was the truth, so I let him off the hook as I tugged him along behind me. "Ignore him, please."

"You mean I don't have to wear a glove?" He replied innocently, making me stop in my tracks.

I turned to see the smirk and the swagger eyeing me playfully. Touché, lawyer man, way to keep me off your game. I tried to think of a witty retort, but swagger plus black-rimmed glasses plus his fingers laced in mine equaled one-track minded Little Miss Sunshine. I tackled him in the hallway.

He must have been unprepared, though he really shouldn't have been considering the number of times I'd done this since knowing him, because we stumbled into the wall behind him with a thud and Edward chuckled against my lips.

"You really need to give me some sort of signal before you do that," he murmured.

I shrugged, still more interested in kissing him than talking. Little Miss Sunshine was not loquacious, though apparently she _was_ affectionate. That was good to know.

"Ew, gross, Bells. Get a room," Jasper scoffed as he closed our front door again. Apparently he opened it after hearing our little tussle against the wall.

I blushed at being caught only ten feet from our apartment. Edward tugged me down the hall again, "Come on, we can act like teenagers at my parents' house. It'll be like high school."

Ten minutes later I was sitting shotgun in Edward's car, and we were stuck in traffic on the 405. Yes, traffic. Before nine a.m. on a Saturday. It wasn't particularly sunny or warm, so it's not like there was a mad rush of inlanders fleeing to the beach, but it was also not unexpected. Mostly because traffic in LA is _always_ expected.

I've been in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 101 at two in the morning. The tiniest things caused traffic here – like Lindsay Lohan fleeing the cops and running over some poor schmuck's toes after stealing his car (though that was _totally _the paparazzi's fault). Or rain. For some reason rain makes the drivers of Los Angeles turn back into sixteen-year-olds fresh off their permits.

We moseyed down the highway in comfortable quiet toward southwest LA.

When Edward told me his parents' house was in Manhattan Beach, I didn't think too much of it. I mean, I work in Beverly Hills; Manhattan Beach isn't small potatoes, but it's not Rodeo Drive. Then we exited the highway and headed west, and kept heading west, and then I could see the ocean as we crested the hill and we still kept going. Edward's parents didn't live _in _Manhattan Beach; they lived _on_ Manhattan Beach. As in, walk out the back door and your feet are in sand. On. The. Beach. And the house appeared to be roughly the size of my apartment building.

I could tell Edward was waiting for some sort of reaction as we pulled into the garage. Considering that he made no mention in the past weeks of the fact that his parents were fabulously wealthy and that he looked decidedly nervous now, I figured my best bet was to appear unaffected by the awesomeness that was this house. He smiled at me shyly as he got our bags out of the back seat and led me inside.

The garage was apparently attached to the kitchen, and as soon as I stepped inside my mask of indifference slipped. The gourmet chef's kitchen was open to a huge living room composed entirely of windows on the west wall. The landscape view of the Pacific Ocean basically slapped me in the face.

Thirty seconds in it, and I was in love with his parents' house. It was important to like your future in-laws' home, right? I mean, that had to bode well.

Edward cleared his throat, fisting the hair at the back of his neck, "Um, so, here it is."

I nodded, "It's, uh, nice?"

He snorted, "Was that a question?"

"No, I mean, it is nice. Really nice," I blushed.

"It's kind of extravagant; you can say it."

I grinned, letting out a breath as I let out my incredulity, "It's absolutely amazing. I mean, wow. I know I see enormous homes in Beverly Hills all the time, but this is so beautiful. Just, wow."

He laughed. "Well, I appreciate your early attempt not to make me feel like I brought you here to show off how cool my parents are."

"So you didn't bring me here to show off the house you grew up in?"

"No, that's entirely why I brought you here," he grinned. "And I didn't grow up here; we moved here when I was fifteen."

"Semantics, Edward. So, you're, like, really rich," I smirked.

"No, my _parents_ are rich," he countered.

"Yeah, that's something only rich kids say."

"Uh, that's because generally rich kids have rich parents." He spoke slowly, teasing me with his condescension.

"Nuh uh, Macauley Culkin was a rich kid and his parents were not," I retorted

He rolled his eyes, "Semantics, Bella. Do you want a tour or not?"

I shrugged, "Sure."

He didn't seem to be buying my nonchalant response, but I decided I would reserve my enthusiastic, _"hell yeah!" _for when he asked if I wanted to see his bedroom.

He showed me the main floor first, which we were already on, before showing me the downstairs, which walked right on to the beach, and the upstairs where all the bedrooms were.

When we got to his bedroom door he turned to face me. "Okay, I have to prepare you now that this room is awesome. I mean, you will not find a cooler bedroom in all of southern California, and I just want to prepare you so you're not intimidated by how cool I clearly was in high school."

I raised a questioning brow, "Well thanks for the warning. I'll try not to let myself become overwhelmed by your awesomeness."

He nodded solemnly, "That's all I ask."

I don't know what I was expecting, but I was greeted with a time capsule straight from Edward Cullen circa eighteen years old. The walls, which I could vaguely surmise were some shade of green, were plastered with posters. Everything from fancy sports cars to Dave Matthews Band to Halle Berry had representation.

"Halle Berry?" I shot him a look as I walked the perimeter of his room.

He shrugged, "What? She was a Bond girl. That makes her cool on top of being hot."

"Yeah, she was a Bond girl in the worst Bond movie ever. I mean, come on, she didn't hold a candle to Ursula Andress; and _Dr. No_ was far superior to _Die Another Day_."

His mouth gaped open.

"What?" I asked.

"That was hot," he said emphatically.

I knew all those James Bond marathons with Jasper would count for something some day.

"I aim to please," I grinned.

Edward was still standing near his doorway and, at the moment, was running a hand through his hair while dubiously shifting his eyes between his bed and me.

I cleared my throat and his eyes snapped to meet mine. "Since you're already all hot and bothered by my superior knowledge of Bond, care to make good on your promise from earlier this morning?"

He gave me a lopsided smile, "You mean the promise that we could make out like teenagers here?"

"That's the one."

He took three long strides toward me before throwing me over his shoulder and walking toward his bed, dropping me playfully in the middle and practically pouncing on me. I was giggling like one of the high schoolers we were pretending to be until I became far more interested in what Edward was doing with his lips. And his hands. I loved his hands.

"Mmm," he hummed against my neck. "I really planned on giving you a tour of the house and then showing you around town."

I smiled, running my fingers through his hair, "That sounds like it was a nice plan."

He stopped his glorious ministrations on my neck and pulled back to look at me, "Do you want to go then?"

I eyeballed him like he was crazy. _Your lips are supposed to be on my neck, mister, not talking a foot above my face. _I shook my head and pulled him back to me.

Thirty seconds later he pulled back again, "Are you sure?"

"What? Are you worried your mom is going to catch us, or something?" I rolled my eyes.

"No, I just, this wasn't my intention when I brought you to my room."

I raised an eyebrow in question and he rolled his eyes, "Okay, maybe I thought about it a little bit."

I grinned before pulling him back to me again. We were finally heading toward something close to second base when a door closing on the floor below us made us both freeze. Edward frowned, his eyebrows pulling together as we strained to hear more.

"Edward!" A voice boomed from down the hall. "Where are you?"

Edward dropped his forehead to mine, "Shit! You have got to be kidding me."

"Edward?" Another voice, female this time, joined the first. "Are you here, sweetie?"

Edward groaned and pulled away from me, moving off the bed. He straightened his clothes a bit before reaching for my hands and pulling me off the bed as well.

He ran a hand over his face before giving me an apologetic look, "I'm sorry about this. I'm so, so sorry."

"Wha-"

Before I could ask my question the door to Edward's bedroom was thrown all the way open.

"Little brother!" A man that was Edward's height but stockier in build stood grinning in the doorframe. He was all dimples and blue eyes, and as his eyes caught mine his smile grew. "Damn, Eddie, you have a girl in here?"

"What? Edward brought a girl home?" The female voice from earlier chimed in, quickly followed by the person it belonged to. She was very pretty and very obviously Edward's mother. Eyes a similar shade to his sparkled with amusement and curiosity as she peeked around her eldest son to see us.

"A girl? Do we know her?" A third head popped into view, this time belonging to a man, a ridiculously handsome older man.

Edward dropped his head into his hands. "Oh my god, Bella. I'm so sorry," he muttered. He shook his head, his make out hair flopping further into his eyes. He sighed deeply before straightening and looking at me, resignation written all over his face.

He gestured between the group standing in his door and me, "Family, this is Bella. Bella, this is my family. And I apologize in advance. Just remember that I didn't get to pick them out myself, I was born into the crazy."

Emmett laughed, his dad smirked (I'd seen _that_ smirk before) and his mother gave an indignant, "Hey!"

I smiled, though it probably looked more like a grimace, and gave a little wave.

We all stood in silence for a beat.

Edward rolled his eyes, "Right, so, are you all just going to stand there and stare at us, or can we move this little meet-and-greet somewhere else?"

And just like that they disappeared from the doorway, one by one, and headed down the hall.

Edward turned to me, "I really am so sorry. They were supposed to be gone all weekend. I have no idea why they're home, or why Emmett's here at all, but I'm sorry. We can leave if you want to. Or we can go somewhere else for the evening. Maybe I could get a hold of one of those time turner things from Harry Potter. You know what I'm talking about, right?" Um, it's Harry Potter, dude. Of course I know what you're talking about. "We could go back an hour and decide just to stay at your place this weekend. Seriously. Where would I find one of those?"

Aw, I loved me some rambly Edward. Though he did look a little frantic. I smiled and pulled his hand from his hair to prevent him from tearing it out. It was too pretty to be torn out.

"It's fine, Edward. We don't have to leave. And I left my time turner in my other purse, so we can't do that, either."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I remember putting it in my other purse last week," I smirked.

He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes in feigned exasperation, "You are hilarious."

I grinned and shrugged, "I know. Besides, I already made a fantastic first impression, being caught making out with you in your bedroom while your parents were supposed to be out of town, so I doubt staying will make it any worse."

"I'm not worried about their impression of you; I'm worried about your impression of them," he explained.

I smiled. Anyone whose progeny was Hot Lawyer Man couldn't be that bad, right? "It'll be fine, Edward."

He shook his head in resignation, "Fine. Let's go downstairs before Emmett comes back up."

I followed Edward downstairs; my hand being safely tucked in his was calming me as the reality of the meet-the-parents I was walking into settled around me. I was meeting Edward's parents… after being caught making out in his adolescent bedroom by his big brother. Oh god.

At the same moment my panic peaked, we arrived in the kitchen where Edward's family sat cozily around the center island. All three heads turned toward us and I took a half a step behind Edward. That much pretty looking at me at once was scary.

Edward cleared his throat, "Right. So, Bella, this is my brother, Emmett; my mom, Esme; and my dad, Carlisle."

They all smiled at me genuinely and I couldn't help but smile at each of them in turn, actually taking in their appearance this time around. Oh. My. God. Hot lawyer man came from hot doctor family. My kids were going to be beautiful.

###

**So, what did you think? _Leave a review_ and let me know!**

**Review question this round: What item do you always buy, even if you don't need it? My answer is jeans and sunglasses. I have so many pairs of both; it's ridiculous.**

**The Beast won the last round for favorite Disney prince. Shocking that we seem to like self-loathing "monsters." Edward, anyone?**

**And oh my holy heck! Thank you to the whole host of people that recommended this story on twitter (ladies, you know who you are and I love you all) and ADF and absolutely anywhere else. I cannot thank everyone who has read this, reviewed this, or even put this on alert enough. You guys make this so much fun for me.**

**A big, monstrous thank you to the lovely Cheyenne Masen, for being fifty shades of awesome, and to her hubs (he knows what he contributed; plus, he puts up with a lot from me ;) Thank you, also, to JackieJones my eagle-eyed beta and Melanie for her reading and input! You ladies keep me on track!**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Twilight? It's not mine. This story? Yeah, that's mine. I doubt many other people would want to claim it. It only serves as proof that my mind is a strange place. But the Twilight bits really aren't mine.**

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The three Cullens I was not dating (I could claim Edward and I were dating, right? I mean, I was meeting his family and we were spending a weekend away together. Yeah, totally dating. Settled.) all sat staring at me and I noticed Esme giving Edward's and my joined hands pointed looks. The quirk of her lips, which was not unfamiliar, told me she was pleased at seeing this. Edward seemed to notice and gave my hand a small squeeze before pulling me closer to the kitchen's island.

Carlisle gestured to his hair, implying mine was out of place, and both Edward and reached our free hands to our heads, smoothing down our horrendous cases of make out hair. Emmett and Carlisle both snickered at our gesture and Esme grinned.

I cleared my throat and willed my blush to go away. "It's nice to meet you all. Edward has told me a lot about you and your home is absolutely beautiful."

Esme smiled tenderly at that and Carlisle beamed at her proudly. I vaguely recalled Edward telling me his mom designed the house. Aw, my future in-laws were sappy in love. Cute.

"Thank you, Bella. We've heard a lot about you, too," Esme eyed her youngest son mischievously.

Wait, really? Edward and I only met two weeks ago. Not even two weeks. I was a little surprised they'd heard about me at all. Though they were acting decidedly casual about the fact that a stranger was in their home with their son.

"So," Edward began loudly, putting an end to my musing and cutting his mother off before she could elaborate. "What are you all doing here? Dad told me you were going to be at a conference in Santa Barbara."

"Edward," his mom admonished. "Did you only bring Bella here this weekend because you thought we wouldn't be here?"

"What? No. I mean, sort of, but it's not what you're thinking. And don't give me that look. I wasn't keeping her from you, I just, we just…" He sighed and turned to his dad, "Help me out, here?"

Carlisle shook his head, "You're on your own, kiddo."

"Well I say, good for you, little bro. You've been in desperate need of a good la-" Esme cuffed him on the back of the head without even taking her eyes off me and Edward. "Ow," Emmett rubbed his head. "Girlfriend, I meant girlfriend."

Edward looked down at me, "Are you sure you don't want to leave? Really, it won't bother me if you changed your mind."

I tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"So, Bella, are you?" asked Esme.

"Am I…?" What? A golddigger? On the pill? Going to say yes to Edward's marriage proposal?

"His girlfriend," she supplied.

Oh. That was probably the more logical jump to make. Edward groaned next to me and dropped his head into his hand. Right. Um. How to respond?

I glanced around to see Esme, Emmett and Carlisle all watching me expectantly. Edward simply looked at the floor like he couldn't fathom why it wouldn't just do its job already and swallow him whole. I actually contemplated telling him that the floor's job was to keep him right where he was, but I wasn't sure he would have followed my train of thought. We probably weren't at that 'communication without speaking' stage yet.

"Uh…" That was the only sound that came out when I opened my mouth.

Damn. I was really hoping Edward would help me out here. It was his family, after all. That, or he really needed to convince the floor to open up wide enough for both of us, because honestly, there was no right answer I could give here. If I said yes, Edward might think I was being presumptuous. If I said no, Edward might think I didn't _want_ to be his girlfriend. And that was so far from the truth it wasn't even funny.

Edward let out a small huff beside me. "Yes, mom. She is."

I did the most elaborate internal happy dance the world has never seen. He shot me a nervous smile and I grinned back at him, hoping my smile wasn't quite as wide as it felt.

Esme caught me up in another hug. "I'm so happy to meet you, Bella!"

Edward pried his mother off me and pushed her back down onto her stool. "You already said that, mom." She looked like she was going to respond, but Edward spoke over her, "Dad. Really, what are you guys doing here? When I talked to you last week you said you would be at the Cardiopulmonary Transplantation Conference _all _weekend."

Carlisle shifted his eyes between Esme and Emmett, "Yeah, uh, your mother wanted to come home."

Esme lifted her nose haughtily. "I did not want to spend my Valentine's Day weekend at some hotel in Santa Barbara. I wanted to be in my home."

Really? I'd have taken the weekend in Santa Barbara hands down. Then again, my home didn't afford me beachfront access.

"Besides," Esme looked cautiously at Emmett. "I wanted to be around in case either of my boys wanted to come home this weekend."

Carlisle cleared his throat, looking again at Emmett from the corner of his eyes, "I ended up sending someone else to the conference. You know your mom prefers to be here."

Uh, was I missing something? I felt like I was missing something.

Emmett rolled his eyes, "What the hell, people? I'm divorced, not blind. I can see you all eyeballing each other and looking at me."

Oh. I was missing the Emmett is divorced memo. Glad that's cleared up.

Edward laughed, "Oh my god, mom and dad came home from their conference to babysit you. That's classic!"

Emmett scowled and punched Edward in the arm.

"Ow!" Edward rubbed the abused spot.

He moved to retaliate but Esme stood from her stool, "Boys! Knock it off. And Edward, we did not come home to babysit your brother. Emmett, honey, you know we're here if you want to talk."

Emmett rolled his eyes again, "I know, mama, thanks." He called her mama, too? These Cullen boys were just too cute. "But you should know that your being here means I can't raid your refrigerator for the good food. I was going to come by and steal it all while you were gone."

Esme threw her arms up, "Do you boys always come home on weekends you know we're not home?"

"Yes," they both replied. I failed to hold in my snicker.

Esme stomped out of the room, mumbling to herself along the way before shouting, "I'm changing the locks!" from the next room over.

Carlisle clapped, rubbing his hands together as he grinned at the three of us. "So, who's hungry? Let's all go to The Local Yolk."

"Yes!" Emmett grinned.

Edward turned to me, "Are you hungry? Does that sound okay? We can go out on our own if you prefer."

I shook my head, "It's fine. I'd like to go out with your family. You guys are entertaining."

Emmett threw an arm around my shoulder and steered me away from Edward, "You haven't seen anything yet, missy."

Edward followed us quickly and removed Emmett's arm from around me, "Don't scare her with your big paws, Em."

Emmett scoffed and shoved Edward away, "If she hasn't run away screaming from you yet, I think I'm safe. What, you afraid I'll steal her from you?"

"It wouldn't be the first time!" Edward huffed.

"Are you still on about Katie Murphy? I was ten! She was into older men, it wasn't my fault!"

"Whatever. You knew I had a crush on her and you made her your girlfriend anyway."

We had been slowly making our way downstairs, apparently we could walk to The Local Yolk from the beach side of the house. Carlisle was already standing by the gate that led to the beachfront sidewalk.

He gave me a smile, "Are they arguing about Katie Murphy?"

I nodded, smirking at Edward's pout. Carlisle smirked back at me, "Edward was pitiful for weeks. He refused to talk to his brother, cried in his room, and composed a horribly sad song about the whole ordeal."

Esme joined us then, having come from somewhere upstairs, "I actually considered putting him in therapy. He was such a deeply feeling little boy."

I grinned and Edward blushed a shade of red I'd never seen before, murmuring, "Shut up. I was young."

I patted his cheek. "I think it's sweet and very romantic. Don't worry, I'll do my best not to be swept off my feet by Emmett's older man charm. No offense, Emmett. I'm sure your charm is very powerful."

Emmett grinned, "It's alright. I might have to write a song or two about it, but I'll get over it someday."

"I hate you all," Edward pouted.

Esme patted his arm reassuringly, "Don't worry, dear, you're very winning in your own way. I'm sure Bella knows that." She winked at me.

"Besides, you're already older than me, so you have the older man category in the bag," I grinned.

He rolled his eyes but grabbed my hand all the same, linking our fingers as he pulled me out onto the sidewalk.

We walked for a while, Edward and I strolled a few steps behind his family. With the sound of the ocean to our left, our voices didn't carry.

"Sorry if it was awkward earlier," he squeezed my hand. "I didn't think about the fact that my parents would want to be here for Emmett."

I laughed, "Sorry, I thought you meant awkward about the Katie Murphy thing. That was only awkward for you. Is Emmett recently divorced then?"

He nodded, "Just finalized last month, but it was all a pretty sad ordeal."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. If anyone can handle it, it's Emmett."

I could see how much he admired his big brother in the way his eyes shown proudly. Part of me wondered why anyone would voluntarily leave being part of this family. They seemed kind of perfect to me. Maybe a little closer than your average family, but it was sweet.

"I didn't like his ex-wife anyway. She and I never got along and then the fact that she wanted a divorce because… I just… ugh… I can't stand her." His jaw clenched and I could sense an underlying temper that I'd never witnessed before. It probably should have worried me, but damn, his jaw was all kinds of sexy.

Focus, Bella. Divorce. Sad. Your future brother-in-law is in pain.

"Um," I began timidly, unsure I should voice my question aloud. "You don't have to answer, but…"

"Why did she want a divorce?"

Ha, we _were_ at the 'communication without speaking' phase. I nodded at his question.

He sighed, glancing ahead of us at his brother before looking back at me, "Emmett, um, Emmett can't father children. They tried for a long time and tried every possible method, but in the end they never got pregnant."

"And they know it was Emmett? Not her?"

Edward shook his head, "They ran all the tests. Rosalie was fine, perfectly capable of conceiving and carrying a baby. But Emmett has hemochromatosis, iron overload disease, and it's made him infertile. I think Emmett would have been fine adopting, but Rosalie wanted biological children."

"That sucks." Eloquent, Bella.

Edward chuckled, "Yes it does."

Esme moved back toward us then, linking her arm in mine when she reached us. "So, Bella, Edward tells me you work at a literary agency. He said you read scripts all day. I find that fascinating!"

I smiled at her easy nature. "It can be fascinating when the scripts are good," I agreed. "But mostly my co-workers and I spend our time mocking the stories we read."

"Oh, I can imagine! My roommate in college fancied herself a writer and was always carrying around journals. I stole one once, just to see if her writing was any good, and the entire thing was filled with dirty limericks."

I snorted out a laugh and Edward let out a surprised gasp next to me. "Mom! You stole from your roommate?"

Esme shrugged, "What? She was odd. Besides, she was constantly taking my favorite pen. Fair's fair."

Edward gave his mother a look. "I hardly think intruding on someone's private writings is equivalent to borrowing someone's pen."

"Are you talking about your roommate's journal of limericks?" Carlisle asked from a few steps in front of us. "What was her name? Sasha? She had a dirty mind."

"You shared them with Dad!"

Clearly his image of his parents was being tarnished, poor thing.

"Honestly, Edward, I'm not Mother Teresa. It's not like I passed them around our dorm or anything."

"No," Carlisle chuckled. "But you did quote them back to her at every opportunity. That was kind of mean."

Esme smirked, "That was her own fault. It was the only way I could get her to quit detailing to everyone about the time she caught you and me in my room…"

"Stop talking!" Edward screamed, throwing his hands over his ears. He shook his head frantically and sped up to walk to next to Emmett. "There are some things a son does not need to know about his parents," he muttered.

I was practically rolling on the sidewalk I was laughing so hard. Esme kept her arm looped through mine and simply smiled serenely as we resumed our earlier walking pace. When Edward finally removed his hands from his ears and quit chanting, "la la la la," over and over again, Esme spoke up. "Sorry to have offended your delicate sensibilities, sweetheart."

I watched Edward shake his head again as he overtly shivered at the thought of his parents in college.

Eventually, and without further damage to Edward's previous opinion of his parents, we reached The Local Yolk. It was a small, diner-style restaurant that sat a block or so above the beach on one of the main streets. There was a short wait outside and the men all kindly gestured Esme and I into chairs while they stood on the sidewalk. I could get used to this kind of chivalry.

"Have you ever been here before, Bella?" Carlisle asked me.

I shook my head, "I've actually only been to Manhattan Beach once before."

Carlisle grinned, "Well this place serves the best breakfast in all of LA. Their omelets are amazing. There's another breakfast place in town, Uncle Bill's Pancake House, and everyone thinks it's the best, but it's really terrible. Do you guys remember when we went there and Emmett ordered the waffles and…"

"They served frozen waffles."

"The waffles were Eggo waffles."

"They were freeze-dried."

Edward, Emmett and Esme all replied at once. Carlisle frowned at having his punch line stolen and Esme rubbed his arm consolingly, "Sorry, honey, but you tell the story a lot."

"Well, it's true," he pouted. "They're terrible."

Edward rolled his eyes and turned to me, "You'll have to forgive my father. He gets very passionate about his breakfast food."

"It's just wrong! Uncle Bill's is in no way better than The Local Yolk!" Carlisle insisted.

"We know, Carlisle, you're right," Esme soothed.

Emmett and Edward both snickered at their dad's pouting. Oh man, if Edward could still pout like that in twenty years, I was done for.

Soon we were seated, all squished together in a round booth. I frowned when our waters came, with lemon, of course, and wordlessly handed my lemon wedge over to Edward, who was already holding his hand out for it. I blushed when I noticed Esme regarding us thoughtfully. It struck me as a very couple-ish thing for us to do. Edward didn't seem to notice and simply added my lemon to his water, slipping his hand back into mine under the table.

When it came to ordering, everyone at the table was directing me to the omelets. Apparently ordering anything else was something of sacrilege. Luckily I liked omelets. Emmett actually fist pumped when I ordered his favorite because he insisted it would be way too big for me to eat by myself and he would get to eat the leftovers. He was probably right, considering it also came with a stack of pancakes and hash browns, but come on. Gauntlet thrown, challenge accepted.

I reconsidered when the food actually came, but I'm not the type of girl to back down. Somehow, I managed to eat all of it. I'm not sure how, and the incredulous looks from everyone at the table told me they weren't sure either. Carlisle high-fived me, and Emmett pouted all the way back to the house.

I felt stuffed to the brim and was perfectly happy when everyone seemed to head toward the cushy lounge chairs on the downstairs patio. The living room there actually opened to the patio outside, which was complete with a fireplace. Cushy chairs, fireplace, and oceanfront? Sign me up.

Edward and I settled into the loveseat while Emmett and Carlisle took residence in armchairs. Esme wandered inside to get snacks and drinks for everyone, though I doubted anyone would be eating the snacks. When she returned she joined Carlisle in his chair and Edward and Emmett shared a look over their parents' outward affection. Emmett's look, however, quickly turned devious.

I saw Edward shake his head frantically at the same time Emmett asked, "So, reader girl, how long have you and Edward been dating?"

Edward groaned and dropped his head back.

"Reader girl?" I exclaimed, turning to poke Edward in his side, "You call me reader girl? After all the grief you gave me about lawyer man?"

Edward pulled his head up and raised and eyebrow at me, "Hot lawyer man. Don't demote me, Bella."

Emmett laughed, "Well it's actually se-"

Edward threw a pillow at him before he could finish.

"Hey! I want to hear this," I glared at Edward.

"Yeah, Edward," Emmett grinned. "She should know she's se-"

Edward threw another pillow.

"Sexy reader girl!" Emmett shouted, as he held up the previously thrown pillow as a shield.

Edward glared. "Dude, our parents are right here."

I glanced at Esme and Carlisle and saw them both smirking.

Emmett scoffed, "Did you not hear the story about the dirty limericks? And it's not like they haven't heard you go on about Bella forever now."

Oh, this was too much fun. Edward was actually squirming in his seat.

"I'm sorry, how long has he been talking about me now?" I grinned.

Carlisle, Esme and Emmett all snickered, but Carlisle answered, "Two months, at least."

Edward scowled and stood from the loveseat. "I seriously hate you all. I'm going to find a new family. Come on, Bella," he held his hand out for me and I took it, letting him pull me up beside him.

"Eddie, come on," his mother pleaded. "We're just happy you're finally dating, that's all."

Her entreaty would have sounded sincere if it hadn't been immediately followed by another round of snickering from all three of them.

Edward huffed, "Yeah, yeah, be happy for me silently. We're going for a walk on the beach. When we get back I expect you all to behave."

Emmett saluted as Edward opened the gate to the sidewalk, "Yessir!"

I could hear Carlisle and Emmett laughing and Esme half-heartedly admonishing them as we stepped past the sidewalk and onto the sand. I took my shoes off to carry them and then took Edward's hand in mine as we walked toward the water. We wandered in the direction of the pier and Edward's eyes were focused on the horizon or the ground in front of him.

I grinned and bumped his shoulder with mine, "So, a few months, huh?"

His cheeks turned pink, "Yeah, I, uh, I don't really know what I can say that won't make me sound like a creep."

"Do you remember who my boss is? The man took me ring shopping. It would be impossible for you to sound like a creep," I replied.

"Really? Even if I told you I sneak into your bedroom and watch you sleep every night?"

"Uh…"

"Or that I really stole that script from you so I would have an excuse to talk to you?"

"Wait, did you really do that? 'Cause that would actually be kind of cute."

He rolled his eyes. "No, Bella, I did not steal your script. I am perfectly capable of coming up with a valid reason to talk to you that doesn't involve thievery."

"Uh huh, sure you are. That's why you told your family all about me before we ever met, right?"

"I didn't… you just… I was, I…" he spluttered. "I would have talked to you eventually," he finally muttered. "Besides, you could have talked to me first."

"Dude, I'm a girl. I'm not supposed to initiate contact."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, 'cause you seem to completely buy into those social standards."

"Yeah, well, it's cuter this way. It's like it was fate," I sighed dramatically, resting the back of my hand on my forehead.

Edward shook his head, gracing me with his perfect crooked smile, "You are such a smart aleck."

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the quaint beach town before heading back to his parents' house. For dinner, Carlisle grilled and we sat outside again, watching the many, many pedestrians as they wandered past the house. When the sun set the guys got the fire going in the outdoor fireplace and Esme got the makings for s'mores. It was quite possibly the most perfect day I'd ever had.

After s'mores everyone headed off in different directions. Emmett left to meet friends, Carlisle and Esme retired to their room, and Edward set up a movie on the awesome in-home theatre system they had in the same downstairs living room that opened to the beach. Have I mentioned that their living room opened to the beach? Seriously, I was never leaving this room again. It even had a wetbar with a mini-fridge so we didn't have to go upstairs for snacks or drinks. If Edward and I didn't get married, I was going to see if Carlisle and Esme would adopt me. Everyone wants a daughter, right?

As Edward sat next to me on the couch I debated about asking him something that had been bothering me for a while.

"Spit it out, woman!" He teased.

"That obvious?" I asked sheepishly.

He just shrugged.

"Alright, um, I guess what I wanna know is, do you, I mean, have you… do you date a lot? Because your family seemed surprised that you brought a girl home. And I just wasn't sure if that was because you date a lot of girls, but not very seriously; I mean, I know you didn't mean to introduce me to your family this weekend, after all. But then sometimes you're kind of shy and I think maybe you haven't dated much, but that seems impossible because look at you!" Wow. I just, wow.

Edward gave me a cocky smirk, "Thank you?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, yeah. You already know you're pretty."

His smile turned sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, uh, about that, it's kind of new, I think. I mean, I know my room upstairs obviously displayed how cool I was in high school, but nobody else really seemed to catch on until after college."

"You're kidding right?"

"About being cool? No, I really am."

I smacked his arm, "No, dork, about no one noticing how ridiculously good looking you are until recently. That's just impossible."

He blushed just the tiniest amount and shook his head, "I kinda looked girly in high school and even early in college. I was really skinny and way more into music than was strictly advisable to fit into the social norm. To answer your question, yes, I have dated, but probably not what would be considered a lot. I'm a relationship guy. I don't really date girls unless I actually see myself dating them sort of long term, so I haven't had a ton of girlfriends. It's been a while since I brought a girl home because the last few years at work have made it hard to start a relationship, I guess. Or I just couldn't find any girls worth the effort on top of all the hours I put in at my job."

I grinned, "So you really like me, huh?"

He smirked, "Yes. You ran into me that day in the hall and angels sang and stars aligned and our whole future flashed before my eyes. It was like the whole world had gone blurry and all I could see was you. Can we watch the movie now?"

I scoffed in response, but settled into him on the couch. Mock it all you want, lawyer man; I know you've already named our beautiful little green-eyed babies. I just know it.

Less than half an hour into the movie I found myself nodding off. Edward and I had started sitting up, but in no time at all he was laying on his back and I was on my side between him and the back of the couch. My head was resting on his chest and I was reveling in the heady feel of his arm around my back. The rhythmic beating of his heart along with the gentle tugging of my hair as he wrapped a curl methodically around his finger was lulling me to sleep. The last thing I remembered was feeling Edward press a kiss to the top of my head.

**###**

**So, how did you like the Cullens?**

**I don't really have a reader question this time around because what I really want to know is if you would be interested in outtakes for this story. The whole thing will be written from Bella's point of view, but I've had a few people wonder what Edward's thinking. Would you want an outtake? EPOV? Maybe a college days outtake of the adventures of Bella and Jasper? Let me know what outtake you'd like to see and maybe, just maybe, I'll write it :D**

**Also, I'm working my way toward getting on a Monday posting schedule. I guarantee nothing, but as such, this chapter is unbeta'ed. The loverly Cheyenne Masen helped me out with a preread, but any mistakes are mine entirely.**

**I hope you liked the early update and the longest chapter yet. Leave me some love!**

**Oh, and check out this awesomely awesome banner that AgoodWITCH made me! Yay for ReaderBella and LawyerWard :)**

**http: / s982 . / albums/ ae309/AgoodWITCH4life/ ?action=view¤t;=AroomWITHaVIEW2 . jpg **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Anything that looks, sounds, or acts like Twilight isn't mine. If you think I'm making a profit from these similarities, you are mistaken. I just took Edward and Bella and made them play in Los Angeles (not to mention I made Bella cooler… just sayin').**

**###**

Karma sucks. I mean, really Karma, what did I ever do to you except suddenly get a really hot and amazingly adorable boyfriend? Apparently, that was all Karma needed to turn on me like the evil diva she is.

"Bella! Where the hell are your notes on Clearwater's story?"

Karma, thy name is Aro. And today, I kinda hate you.

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying to anyone who would listen for patience. Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Aro. "I left them on the front right corner of your desk on Friday. I saw them there again this morning when I brought in today's _Variety_," I spoke in the sarcastically sweet tone that Kate and Garrett knew meant I was on my last nerve.

I would not hesitate to go toe-to-toe with Aro when he was acting like a brat for no reason. Not that he really ever had reason, but honestly, it was Monday. Do not mess with Monday Bella, Aro. Besides, I still hadn't forgotten that he nearly ruined my life last Monday. _You know what I think about the gorgeous Cartier rings, Aro? I think they're stupid._

Aro slammed the door to his office after marching back into it, not giving me even a cursory response. Sweet. So I was dealing with mature Aro today.

Kate, sensing an Aro vs. Bella Battle of Epic Proportions, stood and quietly closed the door to our office. She began making me a cup of green tea and my frustration ebbed at the simple gesture. My co-workers were so awesome (when they weren't busy groping each other).

"So," Garrett began, standing in front of my desk and crossing his arms. "What did you do to piss off Aro?"

"I have no idea," I groaned, or maybe I whined, just a little. I wasn't a whiner, really, but the weekend had been so lovely that coming to work today was already a downer. Throw in a sourpuss Aro whose annoyance seems to be directed solely to me, and I had a major case of the Mondays.

"Hang in there. You know he'll be back to griping at Kate in no time." He shot a grin at his girlfriend, and she glared back before rolling her eyes.

"Whatever – I'd argue with you, but we all know it's true. Here, Bella," she handed me a mug of green tea and pulled Garrett back over to the desks against the wall. I loved that Kate knew me well enough to know that human interaction with me was in no one's best interests at the moment.

We all went back to working quietly. Kate was writing up coverage on a screenplay for a thriller movie. At least, we thought it was supposed to be a thriller. There was also a chance it was supposed to be a parody. Garrett was reading a script about a bootlegger in the 1940s. Yes, the 1940s, when alcohol was legal. Ah, the joys of being a reader. I was supposed to be reading a manuscript about two people that had a lot of sex and then broke up and then had a lot of sex. At least that was all I had gotten from it when I started it on Friday. I was actually daydreaming about my weekend.

When I woke up Sunday morning, Edward and I were still wrapped around each other on the couch. I had tried to discreetly run a hand through my haystack of hair and remove the inevitable mascara smudges under my eyes, but Edward's small snicker gave him away, and I looked at his face to see he was wide awake and watching me. I'd forgotten he was a morning person. And curse him for looking so freaking good first thing in the morning. The whole electrocuted hair look really worked on him.

We joined his family for breakfast on the rooftop patio (yes, they had a rooftop patio) and then I watched as Edward and Emmett played a few games of beach volleyball. Emmett was definitely the better athlete, and he had no problem making his baby brother look like an idiot in front of his new girlfriend. His words, not mine.

The best part, though, was probably the drive back to the city. Edward stammered his way through a speech-slash-apology about the whole girlfriend confession. He told me that he said it just to keep his family from asking a whole host of questions if he answered in the negative. I wasn't sure if I believed that his parents would actually ask if we were merely intending to engage in casual sex, but I really wouldn't put it past them. Then he stammered again when he told me that he did mean it, though, but only if I was okay with it, of course. Had we not been in the car, I would have tackled him.

My daydream and, subsequently, my ability to actively ignore the nearly inappropriate game of footsie going on across from me, were interrupted when there was a tentative knock on the door. I knew it wasn't Aro; the man didn't have a tentative bone in his body. Kate jumped away from Garrett like a teenager caught making out with her boyfriend by her parents (or like Edward and me caught by his whole family on Saturday morning) and opened the door to a delicious looking Hot Lawyer Man.

Well hello, boyfriend.

Damn it, Karma, why'd you have to make Edward show up and remind me that I have absolutely no grounds for being pissed at you. You are sneaky, Karma, sneaky, but fine, I concede. Ridiculously hot boyfriend trumps ridiculously cranky boss any day of the week. Really, though, do you have to push me on Mondays?

Some of my inner dialogue must have played out on my face because Edward was quirking an eyebrow at me with an amused upturn of his lips.

I couldn't stop the smile that appeared on my face. "Hi, what are you doing here?"

"I was able to step away from my desk for a few minutes, and I didn't talk to you this morning, so I wanted to stop by and say hi."

Kate cleared her throat and looked pointedly between Edward and me.

"What, Kate? I'm not introducing you. I know you already met, and I'm still mad at you for telling him I was pouting when you kicked me out of the office last week."

She rolled her eyes and moved back to her desk. "Whatever, it's nice to see you again, Edward."

Edward smiled, "It's nice to see you, too, Kate."

Garrett stood and gave Edward a handshake/shoulder pat. It was definitely a move from the guy code handbook. I should work on getting a copy of that while Edward and I were still in the infatuation stage. I bet I could get him to give it up.

Ha. That's what she said.

Edward's eyes shot to mine and I realized that I actually chuckled out loud at that last thought. Oops.

"It's probably good you dropped by, man. Our boss is kind of being a jerk to Bella, and she's obviously seconds away from cracking," Garrett said, quirking an eyebrow at my random laugh-at-nothing moment.

Edward frowned, "He's being a jerk to you?"

I shrugged, "It's fine. Honestly, he's just being a child, I'm used to it."

"Yeah, but I thought he normally picked on Kate."

"Hey!" Kate pouted from her desk.

"Give it another hour and I'm sure he will," I shrugged.

Edward continued to frown, "I still don't like it."

I couldn't help but smile at my overprotective boyfriend. I had a boyfriend. He was overprotective. It was awesome.

"Hey, why is this door closed?" Aro snarked as he shoved the door open harder than necessary. "I don't like coming out of my office because I need something from you guys to find the door closed… oh, who's this?"

And just like that, I watched Aro transform from foot-stomping four-year-old to slick lit agent in two seconds flat. He eyed Edward, who was looking undeniably handsome in his suit. His suits had to be tailor-made; honestly, no one looks that good in a suit off the rack.

Edward smiled and reached out his hand, "Edward Cullen. You must be Aro, Bella's told me a lot about you."

Aro smiled brightly and shook Edward's outstretched hand, "Only good things, I hope."

"Of course." His smile was disarmingly charming, and I watched Aro take a subconscious step closer to Edward.

Oh. My. Hell. I think my boyfriend just made my boss fall in love with him. Not that I'd blame Aro, watching Edward turn on the charm like that was frigging hot.

"I hope you don't mind my dropping by, I just wanted to make sure Bella and I were still on for lunch," Edward turned his smile on me and shot me a discreet wink.

Aro nodded, "I don't mind at all. I wondered where Bella had been running off to at lunch time." He glanced at me, then at Kate and Garrett, and seemed to decide that whatever tantrum he had been about to throw wasn't worth it. "Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Edward." He gave a small nod, which Edward returned, and promptly turned to close himself back up in his office.

Kate and I exchanged baffled glances. Damn. Lawyer man was handy to have around.

"Damn. You are handy to have around."

Edward rolled his eyes, "Well it's not exactly like I could tell him to grow up and quit taking his bad mood out on my girlfriend."

Alright, I might have inwardly thrilled at hearing him call me his girlfriend, but only a little bit. And there was no outward proof. None.

Edward looked perturbed, like he would have actually said that if he thought he could have gotten away with it, or if it wouldn't have gotten me in trouble. There was just a hint of righteous indignation – I recognized it from seeing it on Garrett all the time, and its existence made me swoon. Yes, swoon. I loved my boyfriend.

I slapped a hand over my mouth before realizing I hadn't actually said that last thought out loud. I blushed fiercely, knowing I looked like a complete idiot, and dropped my head down onto the desk. I heard Kate and Garrett sniggering at me, but I was too embarrassed to even flip them off.

"Right, so, I'll come back to get you at lunch time?" I could hear the amusement in Edward's voice and refused to look up.

By keeping my head on the desk I convinced myself I could just pretend that I was playing Head's Up, Seven Up. I let out a small, hysterical laugh and decided that I should not be allowed to talk to myself, even in my head.

"Yeah, see you at lunch," I mumbled.

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Bel-la," Edward intoned.

I picked my head up, but remained slumped over, laying my chin on my folded hands. I was sure I was still embarrassingly pink. Edward leaned forward and placed a small kiss on my forehead.

He let out a chuckle before straightening up. "See you later."

He waved at Kate and Garrett before closing our office door behind him. Approximately two-thirds of a second later they both burst out laughing. It was decided then, swaggery Edward was far more dangerous than rambly Edward.

###

"Aro Volturi and Associates, this is Bella, how can I help you?" I hated being on phone duty, especially when Edward was supposed to be here in a few minutes so we could go to lunch.

"Bella! Perfect, I'm glad you answered. This is Seth Clearwater."

I was pleased it was Seth; I hoped he'd made a decision about representation.

"Mr. Clearwater, how are you?"

He chuckled over the line, "Please, call me Seth. I think I'm younger than you and that just sounds weird."

I laughed. It was true. He was only twenty-two. And he had more talent for writing in his index finger than I could hope to have in my entire being. Then again, I don't use my index finger when I write. Jasper always makes fun of me for holding my pen really awkwardly. Maybe that was the problem, I needed to use that talented index finger.

"Anyway," the way he said it made me think I'd missed the socially acceptable timeframe for a verbal response. Oops. "I was calling because I've decided on an agent."

I perked up in my chair, "Okay, great, well, would you like me to forward you to Aro?"

He cleared his throat, "No, uh, I wanted to talk to you. actually."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you see, I was really impressed with your notes on my story, and I've already told Aro that I'd like you to be my agent."

My jaw dropped, and I stood from the chair, earning an odd look from Kate. Garrett had clearly resolved himself to an odd Bella today because he didn't even give me a sideways glance. I tried to formulate words but only succeeded in looking like a fish.

"Bella? Are you there?"

I nodded, not that Seth could see it. "Yeah, um, I just… ha. Wow. Sorry, I swear I'm more articulate than this. You said Aro already knows?"

"Yes. I told him I really wanted to go with his agency, but only if you were my agent."

"Seth, you realize, I mean, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you know I'm not an agent yet, right?"

"Well I know you don't have any clients right now, or ever, but I really don't think there's anyone that would take better care of my story than you would. Honestly, your notes and the few emails we shared blew me away. You view the story the exact same way I do, and that's what I want in my agent. Besides, you said it yourself, you're not one _yet_. Here's your chance."

As I was trying to scramble together a few coherent thoughts Edward strode through the door. Great timing, mister, way to blow any chances of coherency. As much as I hated to do it, because no one should turn their back on that much beauty, I turned my back to Edward and faced the windows. I gave him a wave first, of course, and held up a finger to let him know I'd be another minute.

"Can I ask what Aro's response was?" I asked Seth.

"He seemed reluctant at first, but I'm really not budging on this, Bella. He agreed and said he would serve as a sort of co-agent until you felt comfortable handling me on your own."

I laughed, "So I'll be your handler, huh?"

Seth laughed as well. "Does that mean you're accepting the job?"

I bit my lip. I really, really wanted this. Was I ready for this? "Can I think about it? I would like to, Seth, I really would. I just want a little time to think about it. I want to be sure that I can do it well."

"Absolutely, no problem."

I sighed in relief. I just wanted a day or two to think it over. "Thanks. And Seth?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for this chance. You know how big a fan I am of your story."

"I do and you're welcome, Bella, but I know that I'll be the one thanking you in the end. I'll hear from you soon?"

"Yes, by Wednesday at the latest."

"Great, I look forward to it. I know you'll be fantastic. I have no doubts."

I let out a watery laugh, "Talk to you soon, Seth."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and turned back toward Edward, ignoring the looks I could feel coming from my co-workers. I was sure they got some idea what that phone call was about, but I wasn't ready to see their reactions yet.

Edward was giving me a curious look, and I just shook my head before walking around and grabbing his hand. I pulled him behind me out the door and promptly dragged him next door to our editor's office. As expected, it was open and Jane was nowhere to be found.

I closed the door behind us and raised an eyebrow at Edward; after all, he did ask for some sort of signal. He seemed to catch on because when I jumped up on him he caught me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him with everything I had. He fumbled for a minute before reconciling to his inner gentleman that the only truly feasible way to hold me was to put his hands on my ass. Score. My fingers wove through his hair, and he took a step back, thudding into a filing cabinet that was behind him, but not breaking the kiss.

Eventually, I realized Edward was probably getting tired from holding me so I reluctantly stopped kissing him and slid down his body. Ooh, double score. Note to self, jumping up on Edward means I have to inevitably slide down Edward; do it more often.

"Um, thank you?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "What are you thanking me for?"

"Were you not present for the last five minutes?"

I laughed, "You don't have to thank me for that. Trust me, it was my pleasure."

"Well in that case, thanks for the warning beforehand," he smirked. "So are you going to tell me what that was about? Not that it has to be about anything. I mean, feel free to pull me into random offices whenever you feel like it. Heck, the fact that it's Monday is reason enough for me."

I grinned, unable to hide my joy at his absolute cuteness and the opportunity I'd just been given. The career opportunity, I mean. Not the opportunity to jump Edward whenever I want. Wait, that was pretty great too. No, no, the career opportunity was probably better. Jumping Edward was a close second in the bringing joy department, though.

"Seth Clearwater asked me to be his agent!"

I blurted the statement quite gracelessly, and I could tell it took Edward a moment to actually piece together what I'd said. Then a smile slowly spread on his perfect mouth, and I saw my own excitement mirrored back at me.

"Are you serious?"

I nodded, and he pulled me into a crushing hug.

"Oh my god, babe, that's amazing!"

Heh. He called me babe. This was the second best day of my life. The first obviously being the day we would get married.

We started making out again, and next thing I knew my lunch break was up. Edward apologized profusely for causing me to skip the actual meal portion of lunch, but I'd rather eat his face than food any day. Luckily I didn't say that out loud. There's only so much crazy he should be exposed to at a time, and the head/desk incident of the morning was more than enough for today.

Before we separated for our respective offices, Edward asked me over to his place for dinner that evening, to make up for missing lunch and to celebrate Seth's proposal.

Dinner at my boyfriend's to celebrate a promotion? Yes, please.

###

**Hey, I saw something that looked suspiciously like plot development there… sneaky.**

_**Question of the chapter: What is your favorite holiday tradition?**_** Mine is that instead of a traditional Christmas Eve dinner (not exactly sure what that entails, but I imagine it to be a bit like Thanksgiving dinner) we have crab legs! Yum. Oh, and my grandma makes the most amazing homemade pizzelle cookies (they're Italian, she's Italian, they're my favorite).**

**Thanks this chapter goes to my trifecta of lovelies: Melanie, for being an awesome pre-reader and making sure I'm consistent. Cheyenne Masen, for being my cheerleader when I'm all, 'OMG, this sucks.' And because her insomnia-driven tweets made me laugh harder than I have, um, ever before. And last, but not least, JackieJones for her superb beta skills. Turns out, I don't know where to put commas… she does :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Everyone should know by now that I don't own Twilight, I just make Stephenie Meyer's characters play in the playground in my brain. They did tell me they like it there better than they like it in Forks, though.**

**###**

Aro didn't come back to our office again for the rest of the day, which was fine by me. I needed to have a clear idea of what I wanted to say before I saw him again. At least I understood why he'd been so annoyed with me that morning. Aro does not take well to feeling usurped. Good to know he was obviously planning on giving me a promotion some time in the near future. Or not. Luckily Garrett and Kate did not respond in kind. Despite the fact that I knew they'd love the same opportunity, they were both genuinely excited for me.

I spent the rest of the workday doing some research on publishers and coming up with pitching strategies, and before I knew it, it was time to punch out. I was so excited all afternoon that I didn't even register how hungry I was (Edward's lips, while delicious, were not exactly nourishing).

I ran home quickly, changing into more comfortable clothes and grabbing a bottle of wine, before arriving at Edward's promptly at six-thirty. He answered the door wearing an apron over his jeans and t-shirt that said, "Party Like a Lob*Star," and had three dancing lobsters on it. I could really see why he had to argue he was cool.

He took the wine from me and gestured me into his living room, leaving me to explore a bit while he went back to the kitchen. I'd been in his home once before, but only briefly. He lived in a small, bungalow-style house at the base of Beverly Hills. He'd grudgingly admitted that he owned the house the first time I saw it. He implied that his dad came from money and he'd used some of his inheritance to buy it.

I never pushed the topic because I didn't really care, and right now I was more interested in seeing the space where he lived. The house, while small, was gorgeous, and kept pretty neat. His mom had obviously gotten her hands on it when he moved in.

"I hope you like spaghetti," Edward called from the kitchen. "It's kind of all I can cook successfully."

I laughed and abandoned the picture frames I was looking at to join him. "Spaghetti is fine. You're not a big cook, huh?"

He smiled sheepishly, "Uh, not really, no. I can boil things and microwave things really well, though. And I can grill decently. Should I have bought steaks? I can go to the store if you'd rather have steak."

I shook my head, "Spaghetti is fine, I promise. You can grill us steaks some other time."

He grinned, "Well, had I known we would be celebrating tonight, I would have made sure to have something fancier on hand, but your job offer today caught me by surprise."

"Caught _you_ by surprise?" I hopped up onto his counter and took a sip from one of the glasses of wine he'd poured. "It caught no one by surprise more than me. I still can't believe it. I don't think it's sunk in yet."

"Are you going to do it?" He asked as he stirred the sauce. He was so freaking cute cooking in his apron, caring about my career, and making me dinner.

"I think so. I mean, I always planned to become an agent, and I always wanted to represent manuscripts like Seth's. It seems like the perfect opportunity. I'll have to talk to Aro about it, of course."

Edward frowned, "Do you think that's why he was being short with you today? Does he not want you to be an agent?"

I frowned, too. "The thought has crossed my mind. I don't want to think that he doesn't want me to be an agent; I mean, I could bring the agency new clients, right? But I know that he doesn't handle it well if he thinks someone's trying to take power from him, and I'm afraid that's how he perceives it. There's a reason he's the only agent at his own agency. But it's not like I _asked_ Seth if I could be his agent."

Edward held a wooden spoon laden with tomato sauce to my lips, cupping a hand under my chin as I tasted it so it wouldn't drip onto my clothes. "Maybe that's not what he's thinking, though. Are you going to talk to him about it tomorrow?"

"Mmm," I nodded as he turned back to the stove. "Yes. That tastes really good, by the way."

Edward smirked, "Prego really knows what they're doing when it comes to tomato sauce." I smacked him on the arm and he held up the spoon in self-defense. "Hey! No maiming the cook!"

I rolled my eyes, "I hardly think you've been maimed, dork."

"Bella, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm _really_ cool."

"I know. The lobsters on your apron told me so."

He frowned, looking down at the dancing lobsters, "Hey, what's wrong with my apron?"

"Nothing," I smiled as I hopped off the counter. I kissed Edward's cheek as I moved around him to get the plates he set out earlier. I held them as he plated the spaghetti and salad, and we moved to his small dining table.

We spoke a little more about my being an agent over dinner, but mostly we just talked. I loved that I could talk to him forever about everything and nothing.

After dinner I helped him wash the dishes and we settled onto his couch to watch _Big Bang Theory_. Edward laughed at everything Sheldon said, and he gave me crap when I told him I would date Leonard. I told him to watch it or I would totally dump him for the short, nerdy experimental physicist. He kindly reminded me Leonard was fictional. Pssh, I wasn't going to let something as trivial as reality affect my argument.

Soon, though, all the good Monday night shows were over and a hint of awkwardness settled over us as we got up from the couch.

"So…" Edward ran a hand through his hair and looked at his feet.

I bit the inside of my lip to hide my smirk. "Thanks for dinner, Edward."

"Yeah, you're welcome. I'll take you to a nice dinner this weekend so we can celebrate your new job title properly."

I smiled, nodding, "I would like that."

"Right, well…"

Oh my gosh. Watching him struggle to ask me to stay was my new favorite pastime. I saw his eyes shift between his front door and the hall that I assumed led to his bedroom.

"Uh…" He cleared his throat and rubbed again at the back of his neck.

"Edward?"

His eyes snapped up to meet mine.

"You've never shown me your bedroom." I put him out of his misery.

He grinned and reached for my hand, "How rude of me. We should probably remedy that oversight right now."

I laughed as he pulled me down the hall with all the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning. I wasn't much better. If going to his bedroom meant unwrapping Edward, then it might as well be Christmas.

We got to his door before he stopped and turned to me.

"Are you going to tell me how cool you are again? Because if there's a Halle Berry poster in this room, I might just have to tell you how uncool you really are."

He rolled his eyes, "No, I was going to be a gentleman and tell you that just because we're obviously going into my room to make out doesn't mean anything else has to happen, but if you're just going to mock me–"

"Edward," I cut him off before he could enter full-on pout mode.

"What?"

"Open the door."

"Okay, but seriously, I don't want you to think–"

"Edward."

"What?" He huffed. "Let me finish a sentence, woman."

I cocked my head at him, "Just open the damn door. You're a gentleman; I get it. Nothing has to happen beyond a little groping; I get it. Now on to the making out, please."

Edward flung his door open and gestured me in. I moved to the middle of the decently sized room.

Edward pointed to two doors on one wall, "There's my bathroom. There's my closet." He gestured to the bed at our side, "And here's my bed." With the grand tour finished, he grabbed my hand and spun me to face him, barely giving me time to catch my balance before slamming his lips to mine. I would have laughed at him if my mouth weren't occupied doing something better.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against mine, "Sorry. I didn't really mean to attack you, I've just been thinking of that all day. Ever since you pulled me into that damn office at lunch."

I giggled then. "You won't find me complaining. And if we're recreating our office tryst it should be a little more like this," I jumped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist. He let out a slight, "Oof," before laughing against my lips, which were now attached to his.

After a few moments, and after I became heavier than was probably comfortable, Edward moved us so he could sit on his bed. He sat carefully on the edge, my legs still wrapped around him, and then slid further onto it. We made out for who knows how long like that. Okay, it was probably only five minutes, but it was five minutes of pure win. When I felt his fingers skim delicately under the bottom of my t-shirt, just above the waist of my jeans, I decided it was time to step things up. Edward's gentlemanly ways would take all night to get where I wanted him to go, and I had work in the morning, so the all night thing was going to have to wait for a weekend.

I reluctantly pulled back from his lips, and he raised an eyebrow curiously. I could tell he thought I was going to slow things down when he moved his hands from just under my shirt to rest on my hips. I held in my huff of annoyance. _Hands back under clothing, mister, let's do this!_

I smirked before shoving forcefully on his shoulders; he pretended to be pliant and dropped back to his elbows, both eyebrows raised now. I grinned deviously and promptly yanked his shirt up his stomach, pulling as it got caught at his arms to let him know I wanted it off. He chuckled, but complied, tossing it to his floor before leaning back on his elbows again.

He had a flat stomach, and his chest had a smattering of dark hair. His arms and shoulders were just, wow, yeah, they were nice, not huge or anything, but very, very nice. I eventually looked back at his face to find him smirking at me. Apparently being checked out made him a little bit cocky because he nodded his head at me, "Your turn."

Before he could do it himself, I grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt and yanked it over my head.

He chuckled, "Anxious?"

I rolled my eyes in response and pounced on him. He caught me, and rolled us over so he was on top. Yesssss, that's what I was aiming for. We started fooling around again, and I didn't even notice he was trying to undo my bra clasp until he dropped his forehead to my collarbone in defeat. His kisses were obviously pretty damn distracting because his hands were awkwardly fisted under my spine, and I vaguely wondered how long they'd been that way. It wasn't comfortable.

"Is there an instruction manual I'm missing? I swear I'm not normally this inept," Edward bemoaned.

I really tried not to, but I laughed anyway. I was sure if I could see his face he would be blushing. "The clasp is in front."

He looked up then, eyes wide. "Are you kidding me?"

"Uh, no?"

He shook his head, dropping it back to my shoulder, "You're killing me, Bella."

"Um, I'm sorry?" I wasn't sure if I should be sorry. It didn't feel like a sorry moment, but I certainly didn't want to kill the man. We were just getting to the good stuff, no dying on me now.

His head shot up again. "Don't apologize! I, uh," he cleared his throat. "The bra? In front? It's nice. I mean, it's a good thing. I just wish I'd realized that sooner."

I grinned, "Well, you're welcome to it now."

He quirked an eyebrow at me, "Thank you?"

I laughed and pulled his face to mine. Yes. Kissing. We should be kissing, not talking.

Luckily, no further instructions were needed and my jeans didn't have something as ridiculous as a button-fly to impede Edward's progress once his hands wandered that way. This was vital to keeping his inner gentleman locked away. I couldn't have him thinking his inability to tear my clothes off was some cosmic sign that we shouldn't get naked together. I was not leaving sexy times to the cosmos. What do they know, anyway? They up and decided Pluto isn't a planet.

And I may not be Jasper when it came to physical relationships, but I certainly didn't need a manual. Ew, gross, why did I think of Jasper? Jasper and his physical prowess had no place in my mind right now. I shook the mental image and returned to the task at hand, namely, removing Edward's pants.

Once we were both appropriately clothing free, Edward stilled above me, and I inwardly groaned. "Edward, if we don't at least get to third base right now, _I'm_ going to have to take a cold shower. I'm a girl. Don't make me take a cold shower."

Was that begging? That wasn't begging, right? It's probably considered uncouth for a girl to beg her boyfriend to help her out.

He smirked his stupid sexy smirk, "So you don't want me to tell you you're beautiful before I grab a condom, then?"

I blushed, "Oh, um…"

He ran a thumb over my cheek, before leaning down and kissing me sweetly. "You're beautiful."

I couldn't stop my smile. I wanted to tell him it was cliché and he was being trite, but I couldn't. I could only smile. Sexy time made my cynicism shut up, apparently.

Edward leaned up again to reach over to his nightstand, and now that I knew where this was going, I was able to get out of my head and enjoy it. And oh my hell did I enjoy it. There was one painful moment (no not that one, I am not a virgin, geesh), when we both rocked forward, and I may have knocked his mouth with my forehead, but once we were assured he wasn't bleeding, we found our stride.

Turns out, I'm not that quiet in bed. This was news to me, but Edward seemed quite pleased by it. Especially when he learned it was a new development. He seemed to think it had something to do with his moves, and I couldn't really deny it. Besides, I figured the bedroom was one place it was okay for him to have a bit of an ego.

We lay wrapped around each other, and none of that side-by-side, a little head on the chest business, but completely wrapped around each other. It's like I was in an Edward cocoon. I tried to make a beautiful butterfly joke, even in my head, but, well, I'd just had sex; I couldn't do anything but snuggle closer to Edward. I didn't _want_ to do anything but snuggle closer to Edward… until death do us part. We don't have to snuggle then, though. Necrophilia is gross.

He kissed the top of my head. "I might not ever let you go, now."

I sighed. "I might be okay with that."

He pulled back enough to grin at me before kissing my lips again. "What time do you need to be up in the morning to make it to work on time?" He asked.

I blushed, "Um, well, I might have a change of clothes in my car, so whenever you're up is fine."

"Isabella Swan," he chuckled, resting his forehead on mine. "Did you plan to seduce me tonight?"

I shrugged, "Always be prepared?"

He laughed loudly, "I didn't realize my girlfriend was a Boy Scout."

I teasingly bit his shoulder, "Hey! That wisdom does not rest solely with Boy Scouts."

"Clearly."

We fell quiet then, both happy to relax in each other's arms. One of Edward's arms was wrapped around my back, his hand tangled at the top of my hair, and the rest of me was tucked securely under his other arm. His fingers played idly with my hair, and before I knew it I found myself drifting to sleep.

I jerked awake at the sound of an unfamiliar alarm. At some point in the night, Edward and I must have spread out a bit, and thank goodness for that or I would have had one hell of a neck cramp. I looked over to see him rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands before giving me a sleepy smile.

"Morning," he mumbled.

I was able to twitch one side of my mouth into an almost smile and got out an, "mmm," in response. Yeah, sex still didn't make me a morning person.

Edward chuckled and brushed a strand of my chaotic hair out of my face before pressing a kiss to my forehead. "I'm gonna hop in the shower; do you need to take one, too?"

"Mmmm," was still the only response I was capable of.

"I don't know what that means," he laughed.

I merely snuggled further into the blankets, closing my eyes; his bed was really comfortable.

He chuckled again. "Okay, well, if you want to join me, you can, or you can take one when I'm done."

I nodded into my pillow, grabbing his to hug to me once he moved out of the bed. I heard him chuckle again, and I cracked one eye open so I could check out his ass as he walked to the bathroom. It was a nice ass.

"If you're awake enough to check me out, you're awake enough to join me in the shower."

Clearly, Edward didn't know me very well yet. I could probably check him out _while_ I was sleeping. I'm a very talented sleeper like that.

Sure enough, next thing I knew Edward was running his fingers through my hair, a few drops of water from his own dripping on me. I squinted my eyes open to see him smirking at me.

"You really aren't a morning person, are you?"

I merely quirked an eyebrow in response.

He chuckled, "Right. Well, the shower is available. I'm going to go see what I can do for breakfast."

It took me another moment to realize I had missed the perfect opportunity to see Edward naked again. And wet. Did I seriously fall back asleep while Edward was _naked _in the_ shower_? What the hell, Bella? Priorities, woman. You can sleep when you're dead. Stupid Little Miss Sunshine. She was going down next time.

I reluctantly threw the comforter off myself and sat up. I assumed Edward left the room, but I stood from the bed to see him staring at me from the doorway. Oh. Right. _I_ was still naked. I rolled my eyes at him and waved a hand his direction, shooing him away.

After a nice, hot shower, I felt slightly more awake and capable of appreciating just how wonderful the night before was. I always joked about marrying Edward and having his babies (in my head of course, not to his face, that would make me creepy), but for the first time, it really felt like I was getting in deep with Edward. Not in over my head or anything, I didn't think that was possible; I could probably drown in Edward and not mind one bit. But I was definitely moving past the point of no return.

I let out a sigh, pushing away any insecurity about Edward not feeling the same way. He'd given every indication he was into me, so there was no point in cheapening his feelings, or reading into things that weren't there. He seemed to want me as much as I wanted him, and that was a beautiful thing.

Walking back into his bedroom in my towel, I realized my change of clothes was still in my car. Hmm. Guys liked it when girls wore their boyfriend's clothes, right? Cliché? Yes, but this was Edward, and I knew him well enough already to know that he was a big, ol' softie romantic. So, I pulled on his t-shirt and boxers from last night and padded out to the kitchen where Edward appeared to be making toast.

He turned when he heard me come in and his eyes widened comically. I knew it. He was such a sap. I grinned and stood on my toes to give him a kiss.

"I just need to run out to my car to get my clothes for the day."

I got two steps away from Edward before I felt his hands on my hips. "Oh no you don't. Give me your keys, and I'll go get your clothes."

I turned to face him. "Why? I don't care if I go out there like this."

"No, but I do. My next-door neighbors have a teenaged son. I don't want him fantasizing about my girlfriend, or thinking about why you're wearing my clothes."

I grinned, "Aw, your inner caveman is cute."

He rolled his eyes, "Just give me your keys, woman."

This was the second time in as many days that he'd called me "woman." I raised an eyebrow at him in response and he must have seen my thoughts on my face because as soon as I fisted my keys and moved to run toward the front door, he pounced on me. His arms wrapped around me in an attempt to grab my keys and I tried to twist out of his grip.

"Give me your keys!" He laughed.

"Never!"

He attacked my ribs then, digging his fingers into my sides. I squirmed and, realizing I was fighting a losing battle, I chucked my keys at his front door.

He stopped his attack and swaggered over to his front door with a calm, "Thank you." As if he hadn't just attacked me in his living room.

I grinned, smoothing a hand over my hair and getting my breath back. "You're welcome."

He chuckled as he walked out the door and I moved back to the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast and pouring myself a bowl of cereal. Edward had set out several boxes as well as bowls, spoons, and milk. Most of his cereal was healthy (people actually eat Grape Nuts? Yuck), but there was an errant box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Now you're speaking my language, Lawyer Man.

My bowl was already halfway empty when Edward set my bag down at my feet.

"You know, I only have that cereal here for Emmett."

I smiled while I finished chewing. "Well now you have it here for me, too. Thanks for getting my stuff."

"Sure," he smiled, sitting down to his own bowl of Wheaties. "I was going to offer to drive you to work, but I have a big contract I'm working on this week, and I'll probably have to stay late tonight. I don't want you to be stranded at work."

"No worries," I shrugged. "I'm sure there will be other times we can do our part for the environment and carpool to work."

He smiled brightly, "Yes there will."

After breakfast we both finished getting ready in his room. I was pulling my still damp hair up (Edward seemed genuinely baffled that I didn't need a hair dryer or an extra forty-five minutes to do my hair and makeup), and Edward was putting his button-down shirt and tie over the undershirt he'd been wearing earlier. It was one of those perfectly simple, domestic moments that I not-so-secretly hoped was a glimpse of our future. We even kissed in his driveway before we both got in our cars and drove to work. We were so cute.

I spent the entire drive reveling in contentment, knowing I would need it to steel myself for the step I was about to take. First thing when I got to work, I intended to meet with Aro and let him know that I was taking the job as Seth's agent. I fervently hoped Aro was willing to act like an adult today.

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**FYI: There is an EPOV outtake of this chapter posted under _A Room With a View: Outtakes_ on my profile.  
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**Review Question (because I like responding to your reviews with something more than, 'Thank you'): Other than Edward and Bella, who are your favorite canon Twilight characters? Who are your least favorite?**

**My favorite are Alice (I said canon, not fanfic), Jasper, and Seth. My least favorite are Bella (haha, I broke my own rule there, but rules are made to be broken) and Jacob (no means no, dude, let it go).**

**Huge thank yous to Melanie, for her input; JackieJones, for being a killer beta; and Cheyenne Masen, for being a cougar all those chapters ago. These ladies also assured me that I won't be murdered for glossing over the sex… I hope they're right.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: We've been through this. I don't own it. I just play with it.**

**My apologies for taking a little longer to get this posted. Real life decided to be super lame and emo (okay, maybe that was just me) and my Bella muse left me for a week or so. **

**Also, I posted an outtake of the last chapter if you missed it. Check my profile 'cause it's posted as a separate story and you'll want to put it on alert if you want to read future outtakes (and there will be more outtakes from many POVs, I think).**

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I walked into the office that morning, planning to ask Aro to meet with me at a certain time so it would feel like it was on my terms. Instead, he called me into his office the minute I walked through the door and proceeded to be a condescending ass.

"…so this is going to be a lot more work than you're used to, but I'll help you every step of the way."

I barely managed to maintain my eye roll. I knew Aro well enough to know that it wasn't a legitimate offer of help if it meant I would usurp any of his success_. I get it, Aro; you are the head honcho main agent around here. I'm certainly not going to ask you to change the name of your agency to Aro Volturi, Bella Swan & Associates. It would be too long on my business card anyway._

As I expected, the following three weeks were filled with a truckload of condescension and very little actual help. I had taken to tuning out Aro any time he spoke to me in favor of reciting my favorite features of Edward's. His mouth had yet to be knocked from the top spot.

Luckily, I'd been doing enough of Aro's job for him for so long that I really didn't need his help. Seth and I had meeting after meeting, fine tuning parts of his manuscript, before taking it to publishers. I'd also done loads of research on publishing houses that were most likely to handle this kind of story successfully. All in all it had been a productive three weeks, but it came at the price of my sanity.

One day in particular, I actually ran away to Edward's office just to escape the wrath of Aro after informing him, in no uncertain terms, that his in-house editor would not lay a finger on Seth's story. It probably wasn't entirely professional to show up at my boyfriend's law office, which I'd never visited before, while pouting like a two-year-old, but Edward seemed to find it highly entertaining, so I didn't think he minded too much. He drew the line at making out on top of his desk, though. Something about "not during normal business hours," or some such nonsense.

I was currently at home, laying upside down, my legs over the back of the couch while my back lay over the seat and my head hung over the edge. I used to come home from school and watch TV like this as a kid. I felt the couch shift next to me and turned my head to see Jasper grinning down at me.

"You know," Jasper began. "Some people actually do the yoga while watching the yoga videos."

I bent one leg so my foot was resting on my other knee and brought my hands over my head, palms together. "Tree pose, Jas. Done."

He rolled his eyes, "You're a regular yogi. Watch out, Bikram, Swan's Couch Yoga is the new craze."

I flipped him off.

"That is not zen, B. Find your inner peace."

"Aro bribed my inner peace with jewelry and that ho shacked up with him, leaving me to fend for myself."

Jasper swung his legs up the back of the couch, joining me upside down. "So Aro's still being a bitch?"

"Ugh, yes. I liked it better when he was moody and mean. This condescending crap makes me feel like I'm in high school again. My boss is a sixteen-year-old girl, apparently."

"B? Have you ever considered he has a thing for you?"

I nearly choked on my spit. "No, Jas, he doesn't."

We both moved our arms so one was out in front of us, or over us, considering we were laying upside down on our backs, as the little yoga people in the video moved to warrior position.

"I'm pretty sure Aro is asexual. Although, I think he checked out my boyfriend's ass a couple weeks ago, so maybe he's gay."

"You don't even know if he's straight or gay?"

"Believe it or not, Jas, I don't spend my days contemplating other people's sexuality. He's a typical Hollywood oddball, what more do I need to know? Besides, I know for a fact that I'm his favorite because my first week at the job I told him a screenplay was crap when everyone else told him it would be a hit. He thinks I have balls. Oh my gosh, he is gay!"

Jasper snickered at my revelation, as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" We both shouted. We probably should have asked who it was, but it was most likely Alice.

"Hey Jazzy, I brought over your cell phone, you left it at my place this morning."

I snickered at Alice's nickname for Jas, but he ignored me and smiled his Alice smile, "Thanks, darlin'. What would I do without you?"

She crossed the couch in front of us, not even commenting on our odd position as she leaned down to kiss Jasper. "Uh, you'd have an STD, obviously. Hmm, this is sexy, very Spiderman."

"Blech," I made a face. "Gross, Ali, I'm right here."

"Does that mean _I_ don't get a Spiderman kiss?"

I yelped at the sound of Edward's voice and flipped backwards.

"Ow," I muttered into the hardwood floor. I rolled over to my back to find three faces laughing at me.

"When did you get here?"

He quirked an eyebrow at me, "The same time as Alice, obviously. Are you doing yoga? On the couch?"

I rubbed at my forehead. "No. I was watching the yoga from the couch. It's very relaxing."

He held a hand out to me, "Obviously."

I took his hand and let him pull me up, and he promptly tugged him into his arms, kissing the spot on my forehead that had been closely acquainted with my floor.

"You're kinda weird," he smirked.

I pouted. I'm not weird, I'm quirky.

Edward chuckled, presumably at my pout, which apparently didn't have the same affect on him as his had on me. He kissed me, though, so that was something.

He pulled back, weaving his fingers through mine and standing at arms length. "Is this what you're wearing out?"

I glanced down, taking in my gray leggings that I deemed yoga pants, and my black tank top. It was Saturday, and we were planning on going out with Jasper and Alice, and Emmett was coming along, too. The increased workload for me the last three weeks on top of Edward's typical workload meant we hadn't been able to see each other as much as we'd like. Well, that's not entirely true. I saw him every day at work, and we managed lunch here and there, and there was the pouting incident when I visited, but it wasn't the same as being with him outside of work and parading him around as my boyfriend in public. They should have boyfriend shows the way they have dog shows. Edward would totally win Best in Show. I probably shouldn't tell him that, though; he might find it degrading.

"Is this not what you had in mind when you wanted to take out your ridiculously sexy girlfriend?"

He smirked and tugged on the messy bun piled on my head. "I wouldn't say that, but I kind of feel like I should be the only person allowed to check out your ass in those pants."

"Jasper sees me in these pants all the time," I shrugged.

"Yes, B, but we all know the last thing I'm doing is checking out your ass."

"I don't know, Jas, you told me once that Bella has a sweet ass."

My jaw dropped as I looked at Alice. "Gross. You did not really say that."

Jasper glared at Alice. "That was one time, Ali, and you were the one that forced me to check it out."

I was a mite horrified by the turn this conversation had taken, and turned to Edward, who was smirking.

"Why are you smirking? Doesn't this bother you?"

He shook his head, "Nope. I'd be more bothered if Jasper didn't recognize you have a sweet ass. I mean, he is a guy, and your ass is pretty sweet by anyone's standards."

I glanced between all three of them before rolling my eyes and moving toward my room. Of course, I realized then that I was providing them the perfect view of my butt, so I covered it with my hands. We never needed to have a conversation about my ass again.

An hour later we were all sitting at a table at Philly West. It was Jasper's favorite bar in college because it was far enough from campus that it wasn't filled with co-eds, and the bartender tended to wear Cubs paraphernalia just to piss off the Phillies fans that frequented the place. They would get all huffy about it, but couldn't ever mess with him because he controlled the booze. Jasper and I were easily entertained, obviously.

"Ding Dong!" Emmett shouted over the Saturday evening crowd as he made his way to our table.

Edward quirked an eyebrow his direction, "Ding dong?"

Emmett rolled his eyes, plopping into a chair next to Jasper. "Not you, Eddie, your girlfriend is Ding Dong."

"Hey! I am not a ding dong."

"No, silly, you're Bella, which could be nicknamed bells, which are things that chime and make a sound like this: ding dong!" Emmett logically explained.

Edward groaned and dropped his head to the table. "We are not related," he muttered.

I frowned. "So I'm a doorbell? Can't I at least be pretty sounding bells? Like those hand bells that kids in choirs use?"

"Don't those still make a ding dong sound?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, but a pretty one."

"Oh, then sure, you can be a hand bell."

"From what I gather, she is pretty handsy," Jasper chimed in.

Edward snorted a laugh next to me, but I just glared at Jasper. "How would you know?"

Jasper smirked. His smirk never meant good things for me. "You talk in your sleep, darlin'. You have no secrets from me."

I turned beet red and buried my head in Edward's shoulder, muttering, "I do not talk in my sleep."

Edward chuckled, "You do, actually."

I screeched and popped up to look at him, "You've heard me?"

He quirked an eyebrow at me, his look clearly implying that talking in my sleep was a regular occurrence, therefore obviously something he'd been exposed to even though we'd only had a handful of sleepovers in the month or so we'd been dating.

"B, our entire apartment complex has heard you."

"Wait, Bella's loud in bed? Since when?" _Thank you, Alice, thank you for so easily turning this into a conversation about sex, as if discussing my sleep talking wasn't bad enough_.

Jasper laughed at his girlfriend, and Emmett held his hand out to both of them. "I'm Emmett, big brother to the nerd over there."

"Jasper, best friend and roommate to the noisemaker next to him."

"I'm Alice," Alice grinned, pumping Emmett's hand enthusiastically.

Great. They'd already managed to discuss Edward's and my sex life before they'd even been introduced. This did not bode well.

"So," Emmett leaned toward Alice and Jasper. "Eddie bagged himself a noisy one, huh?"

Edward cuffed him on the back of the head while telling him to shut up, though I still noticed a hint of self-satisfied smirk.

Alice grinned, "If she is, she certainly wasn't before _Eddie_ came along."

"Okay, can we all stop now?" I pleaded.

"Yeah," Edward attempted a serious face. Though the effect was ruined when he pouted, mumbling, "And only my mom calls me Eddie."

I held in my laugh. My boyfriend was such a mama's boy.

"What? It's a compliment. And your brother just called you Eddie," Alice pointed out.

Edward rolled his eyes, "If you can find a way to get him to stop, please let me know." He leaned toward me then, his lips nearly brushing my earlobe. "I do take your noisiness as a compliment, though," he whispered.

I tried to ignore the shudder that ran through me from his whispered breath, but wasn't entirely successful. Edward smirked cockily before turning back to the group, "Right, clearly this evening is going to call for booze. First round is on me. Emmett, put your big paws to use and go to the bar."

He came back with a round of shots for everyone on top of the drinks we'd all asked for. So it was going to be one of those nights, huh? I smiled to myself; perfect. Nothing like a night of drunken debauchery to rid myself of my annoyance with Aro. Especially if it was Edward I was going to debauch.

I downed the shot and started in on my Jack and ginger. Mmm, Jack Daniels was my friend.

"So, Alice, what do you do?" Emmett asked as we were all settled into our drinks.

"Oh, I'm a penetration specialist," she grinned.

Emmett spewed his beer over the table while Edward choked on his. Jasper and I just snickered. People always had that reaction. Dirty, dirty minds, people.

"I'm sorry, you're a penetration specialist?" Emmett clarified, his eyes comically darting between Alice and Jasper as if the two of them would give him a live demonstration or something.

Alice just kept grinning, "Yup."

Edward scratched at the back of his head and I nearly snorted at his valiant attempt not to let his mind wander to the gutter.

I leaned over to him, "It has to do with computers, Edward, computers."

His eyes widened, "Oh! Oh, right. I knew that."

"Sure you did," I snickered.

Emmett pouted, "Well that's not near as fun."

Edward cleared his throat, "So, Alice, you're like a professional hacker?"

She nodded, "Yup. Companies hire me to test their firewalls and security systems for penetrability. Basically, you cannot hide porn on your computer that I can't find."

Emmett grinned, "Okay, when you put it like that, it's oddly hot."

"Tell me about it," Jasper nodded.

"You didn't think it was so hot when she found your stash of– " Jasper slapped a hand over my mouth before I could finish the sentence.

He glared at me and shook his head, "You say one more word and I will tell Edward about how you want to have– " It was my turn to slap a hand over his mouth. No way in hell was he telling Edward that I wanted to have his babies. No. Not happening. I mean, the baby part would happen someday, of course, but telling him about it in a bar only month into our relationship? No.

Jasper and I both eyed each other, each of us still with a hand clamped over the other's mouth. He raised an eyebrow at me and I returned the gesture. _Truce? Truce_. We both lowered our hands at the same time to see Emmett, Alice, and Edward staring at us curiously.

"What?" I asked.

Edward shook his head, smirking amusedly. "Nothing, babe."

I grinned. Babe. Heh, I was his babe. I think I would always have that reaction.

"We need more booze," Emmet slapped his hands on the tabletop.

"Hells yes," Jasper agreed.

"I got this round, 'gents." Alice stood from the table, winking at Jasper as she moved to the bar. Alice made ridiculously good money as a penetration specialist. Heck, she could probably give _Pretty Woman_-style penetration specialists a run for their money in hourly rates.

I chuckled to myself at the thought. I was damn funny.

Edward wrapped one of the curls of my ponytail around his finger. "What is going through that crazy mind of yours, beautiful?"

I sighed. He called me beautiful. His green eyes were lit with amusement, and I stared a beat too long. Edward was soooo pretty.

"Bella?"

I shook my head to clear the stupor. Damn, how much had I had to drink already?

"Uh, what?"

Edward chuckled and shook his head, "Nothing."

We quickly downed the shots that Alice brought us all. I was going to be drunk in no time.

An hour and two pathetic video game losses to Emmett later, I was gone. I couldn't even remember the name of the video game, which was sad considering the machiney thing, or whatever it was called, was sitting a few feet from me and it was the same as it had been all through college.

Alice had used her temptress ways to get the bartender to change one of the TVs from ESPN to some music channel. There were still music channels that played music? It must not have been MTV. MTV just made annoying people famous. Stupid MTV.

Edward and Emmett were currently playing whatever the hell video game I couldn't remember, and Jasper was chatting with some dude at a nearby table about how effing awesome Texas was. I think. I just heard Texas, so I assume that's what was happening. I was watching Alice dance in her chair. I didn't know you could dance while sitting down, but apparently it was possible. I kinda wanted to try it, but I didn't want to fall out of my chair. That would be embarrassing. I bet Edward would catch me, though. He was all knight-in-shining-armory like that. Ha. Armory. I just called Edward a gun store.

I watched as Alice grabbed Jasper by his wrist, and proceeded to use him as a pole while he continued to talk to the dude at the table. Of course, Alice could care less that Jasper was carrying on a conversation while being molested. It did help that he was groping her, so he obviously wasn't completely oblivious. Besides, she knew he took his Texas conversations very seriously.

Edward fell into the chair next to me. "Shots, Em! You have to do shots!" He yelled at his brother.

Emmett grumbled as he collected his shots from the bar.

"You beat him?" I asked incredulously.

"Psshh, 'course I did."

"Don't act smug, Eddie," Emmett added loudly from the bar. "You only won because while the rest of us spent high school and college getting laid, you spent it glued to your video game consoles."

I expected Edward to blush, or something equally cute, but he just grinned at his brother. "Don't be such a sore loser, Em. Besides, who's getting laid now?"

I giggled, yes giggled, but everyone else seemed to freeze. Alice smirked at me and Jasper looked gobsmacked, "You're sleeping together?"

Edward turned bright red. Right, _now_ he blushes. "Uh… no?"

I snorted then, laughing at Edward's awkwardness. "Didn't we have a conversation already about how I'm loud in bed now? I thought we made it clear."

Emmett nodded appreciatively, while trying to get Edward to fist bump him. "Niiice, little bro."

Edward tried to shake his head, but it came out kinda wobbly and he fist bumped his brother anyway.

"I was talking about your sleep talking, B! Gross!"

I rolled my eyes, but then had to lay my hands on the tabletop 'cause it made me dizzy. "Gross? Gross is walking in on you and Alice fucking on our couch." I slapped a hand over my mouth. "I just said fuck," I whispered.

Jasper laughed, "Damn, B, you are toasted. I bet I could get you to say anything right now."

"No," I shook my head. "No, no, nononono." I was still shaking my head.

Edward put his hands on either side of my face, "You're making _me_ dizzy, baby."

I grinned and leaned forward, attaching my lips to his. Mmmm, Edward's lips. So lovely. "You called me baby, baby," I spoke with my lips still mostly covering his.

He smiled and kissed me again, "Of course I did. You're my girlfriend. Who else would I call baby?"

"Your mom," I snorted. Yup, drunk Bella tells 'your mom' jokes, 'cause she's awesome like that. Word.

Edward grimaced, "Gross."

"Bella," Alice tugged harshly on my arm. "Quit sucking your man's face off and dance with me."

She pulled me out of my chair, and I smiled at Edward's pout. I noticed the bartender turned up the volume on the TV that was on the not-MTV music channel with an amused look on his face. He should probably not be aiding our drunken revelry.

"Go Cubs!" I shouted the bartender's direction. He laughed. I'm so funny.

Alice and I started dancing, and I have to say, I'm a hella good dancer when I'm drunk. Yes. Yes, I am. It helps that Alice made me go to some of those pole dancing exercise classes a while back. Yessir, I could moonlight as a stripper. Or a penetration specialist. I laughed out loud. Damn, I was on a role with the funny tonight.

"Bella, you should give Edward a lap dance," Jasper suggested.

Edward's eyes got really big. "You know how to lap dance?"

"Pfft, 'course I do." I tried to shove Edward's legs to the side so he wouldn't be sitting facing the table, but he was too heavy. He seemed willing cooperate, though, so he turned his chair for me.

Emmett laughed loudly, "Oh man, I have to see this. I took Eddie to get his first lap dance when he turned eighteen and I thought his brain was going to explode."

"Shut up, Emmett," Edward yelled, though his eyes remained on me.

"Wait," I stopped moving and turned to Jasper. "If I'm giving Edward a lap dance, you have to give Alice a lap dance."

"Yeah, baby," Alice grinned, making a show of turning her chair around and preparing herself for Jasper's dance.

"_You_ know how to lap dance, Jasper?" Edward asked.

Jasper smiled smugly, "Damn straight. The ladies are not immune to a little teasing of the dancing variety."

I was just getting into my groove, and Edward was looking mighty fidgety in his chair when Emmett proclaimed I was doing it wrong. "Let me show you how it's done, Ding Dong."

Edward yelped and jumped up from his chair, "I am _not _getting a lap dance from my brother. I don't care how drunk I am."

"Perfect," Emmett declared before shoving me into the chair that Edward had vacated.

Before I knew it, Emmett was giving Alice a lap dance, Jasper was dancing around Edward, because apparently Edward was drunk enough for that, and I was dancing on the table. Yes. The table. Because I was just that kind of drunk girl, apparently.

The bartender was cracking up as other patrons decided to join our dance party. Hells yes, we are where the party's at!

"Bella," Jasper pouted. "I don't wanna dance for Edward anymore. You do it. You're the one that wants to have his babies."

"Jasper!" I shrieked, jumping down from the table. "You're not supposed to tell him that!"

Edward's eyes got big, "You wanna have my babies?"

"Uh, no?" Was that the right answer? I think that was the right answer. Wait, right answer for him, or right answer for me?

"You don't?" He pouted, giving me the bottom lip.

"Yes, I do. Wait, no, I mean, yes, I mean, I don't know! Do you want me to want to have your babies?"

"I think so," he looked genuinely puzzled. "Ask me again tomorrow."

I nodded.

"You know what I want?" Jasper asked.

"What?"

"To get laid. Come on, Ali baby, let's go home!"

"Woo hoo!" Alice cheered, jumping into Jasper's arms. He stumbled into the table behind him but managed to stay on his feet.

Soon, the five of us were piled into a cab and on our way to Jasper's and my apartment. I'm not sure why, but we decided it would be best if we all stayed there.

Emmett was passed out on the couch almost as soon as we got in the door, and Edward and I snickered at the giggles coming from Jasper's room while we climbed into my bed. It was funny 'cause Jasper was the one giggling.

I really wanted to make out with Edward, but my body wouldn't cooperate. My limbs decided they were already asleep, so I had to settle for letting Edward spoon me. He was the big spoon. Spoon. Spoon is a funny word.

"Edward?" I couldn't tell if he was asleep yet.

"Yeah, babe?" He mumbled.

"I totally wanna have your babies."

###

I blinked my eyes open slowly, grateful that the curtains in my room were dark enough to cast the morning sunlight as a dark haze. I was never drinking again. Jack Daniels was of the devil.

I groaned. Or maybe Edward groaned. I couldn't tell, I just knew there was groaning. We were both on our stomachs, and he had an arm and a leg thrown over the top of me. I couldn't exactly move, but I didn't really want to.

There were sounds and smells coming from the kitchen, but I couldn't distinguish anything. All I knew was that opening my eyes took too much effort, my mouth tasted like Jasper's socks smelled, and my head was full of cotton balls.

"Morning," Edward mumbled.

I turned my head to see him sort of smirking at me. He looked much more alive than I felt. It must have been me groaning earlier, then.

"Mmpf," was my only response.

"How's your head?"

I shrugged, trying to piece together all the fuzzy moments from the night before. I remembered playing video games with Emmett and yelling "Go Cubs" at the bartender and some shenanigans about a lap dance. I think I only gave Edward a lap dance, though, so that was some consolation. I hoped I didn't give Emmett a lap dance, that could be awkward.

Edward ran a gentle hand through my hair and kissed my forehead before pushing himself up and out of bed. I watched him as he wandered around my room, too hung over to try and get out of bed myself. He brought me a glass of water from the bathroom, and I felt marginally more human after drinking it.

"Come on, beautiful," he tugged on my hands. "Let's get some food and some aspirin in you."

Beautiful. Ha. Right. I'm sure I was just a sight to behold at the moment. I didn't have it in me to protest, though, so I let Edward tug me out of bed and gently push me down the hall to the kitchen. Jasper and Emmett were there, digging in to a huge stack of pancakes that they'd made for all of us. I knew Alice would remain dead to the world until early evening.

Edward put a stack of pancakes in front of me. "Do you want any juice, baby?"

Baby. I frowned. Why was that word flashing in my mind like a warning sign? Baby? Hmm. Baby.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, covering my face with my hands.

"What?" Jasper asked.

"Not so loud, Ding Dong," Emmett moaned.

"No. Oh, no. Please, please tell me I didn't say that out loud," I groaned.

"Say what out loud, B?"

I peeked at Edward through my fingers and noticed that he was an embarrassing shade of pink. Oh god, no.

He scratched nervously at the back of his neck and chuckled. "I, uh, I think Bella just remembered that she told me she wants to have my babies before we fell asleep last night."

And that was all it took for last night's contents to erupt in my stomach. I ran to the bathroom, barely making it in time.

I groaned and slumped to the floor. This could not get more embarrassing. I closed my eyes and pressed my head to the cool tile of the floor, silently begging it to swallow me whole. This was fifty times worse than being caught making out by his family.

I felt his fingers run through my hair, and I whimpered at the contact. He was so nice to comfort me before telling me I was insane. I chanced opening one eye to look at him and found him smirking down at me.

"So is this like a trial run for the morning sickness when you have my babies?"

"Oh my god," I groaned, turning back to the floor.

Edward chuckled.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing," I muttered petulantly.

He pulled me up to a sitting position, then, letting me burrow myself into his side.

"Well it is pretty damn funny. And you have to admit, our kids would be beautiful."

I stilled in his arms. He wasn't freaking out about this? What guy in his right mind doesn't freak out when his girlfriend of _one month_ tells him she wants to have his babies?

"And to answer your question from last night, yes, I suppose I do want you to want to have my babies."

I bit my lip to hide my ridiculous grin, "Well, they really would be beautiful. It's only right."

When I left the bathroom, Jasper and Emmett were still laughing their asses off at me and by the end of the day the pair of them had named our children and given all seven of them physical descriptions. I had the sinking feeling that this was going to be a running joke for a long time and I almost regretted letting Jasper and Emmett ever speak to each other.

Then again, Edward wasn't much help. He just kept laughing at them and insisting that little Lafonda Cullen was going to be a knockout.

Ugh, boys. I was never drinking again. My only consolation was that I hadn't told Edward I was in love with him, because let's face it, I was totally in love with that man. Sadly, I was sure it was only a matter of time until my filter slipped and I told him all about it.

**###**

**So, I don't know if you heard, but this little story was nominated for two Avant Garde Awards (a million thank yous to whomever did the nominating :) If you would, please head on over there and vote for Room With a View for **_**Best Edward**_** (you know you love Lawyerward) and **_**Best Canon**_** (Hot Lawyer Man and Sexy Reader Girl for the win). **

**http:/twilightfb-awards . blogspot . com/p/vote . html**

**Check out the other stories/authors there while you're at it. There's some great stuff.**

**Okay, question of the chapter: If you could be any canon Twilight character, who would it be? My answer is actually Kate. I know, weird, but I think her gift is kinda fun (I'm not a sadist, I promise), she's not all emo hung up on Edward like Tanya and she doesn't have to stupidly fall in love with Jacob like Bella (blech) and she gets to be with Lee Pace (Garrett) in the end. Win.**

**Thanks to JackieJones for being awesome and getting this back to me super fast. And a ridiculous amount of thanks to my Cheyenne Masen; she should probably take credit for a lot of the things that happened this chapter. She really wanted a Drunkward and I can't ever say no to her.  
**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**a/n: So, it's been awhile. Apologies. I'm truly sorry, though, that I have been fail at review replies. If you've just started reading since I posted the last two chapters, then you probably haven't received any and I suck for that. But you all are so amazing that now I'm overwhelmed; so do me a favor and leave a review this chapter. I'm gonna start with a clean slate here and I promise to reply to your review. And know that I have read and loved every single review left for me.**

"Bella Bella Ding Dong!" Emmett practically shouted from the doorway of my office.

I looked up from my computer, where I was writing another inquiry letter to a publishing house.

"Hey Emmett," I grinned. "What brings you here? Doing a little shopping on Rodeo Drive?"

He grinned, "I thought my outfit could use a little bling."

"Did you just say 'bling'? The year nineteen ninety-nine called and it wants its word back."

He frowned at me, "Hush, woman, bling is still hip. Besides, the year two thousand two called and it wants its joke back."

"Touché. And what is with you and your brother calling me 'woman'? I thought your mama raised you both to be gentlemen."

"Oh please, I call _her_ 'woman' all the time." He frowned, looking concerned, "Don't tell Edward I called you that, though. Seriously."

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "Be nice to me, then. By the way, this is Kate and that's Garrett." I gestured to the two desks they were sitting at. "Guys, this is Emmett, Edward's older brother."

Emmett smiled, waving at them, "Nice to meet you both."

"Seriously, though, what are you doing here?"

"What? I can't drop in to visit my brother's girlfriend at work just because I want to?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes in a very Edward-y fashion, must be genetic. "Fine, I was on my way to see my little bro and remembered your office was on the way. Edward mentioned that yours was always the only office on this floor with the door open, so I thought I'd check in and say hi."

"Oh, well that was nice of you."

"I'm the nice one in the family."

"What does that make Edward?"

"The dorky one."

I nodded, "That makes sense."

"You wanna come up to his office with me? Or do you have some important agent work that needs agenting."

"Uh," I glanced at the nearly completed letter on my screen and then at the not-even-started coverage I needed to write for Mr. I Don't Have to Show Up for Work Because I'm the Boss. "Sure, I'm not busy."

I heard Garrett snicker, but ignored him as I followed Emmett out the door of my office.

"So is this where the magic happened?"

I spluttered and choked on air. He couldn't know about how I jumped his brother in Jane's office, right? "I'm sorry, what?"

Emmett grinned, patting me on the back. Yikes, the man had beefy hands.

"This is where you ran into Edward, right? Where you talked for the first time? Damn, Ding Dong, what were _you_ thinking?"

"Oh, uh, right. I knew that's what you meant. Yeah, this is where we, uh, met, I guess. Though, to be fair, he stared at me every day as he'd walk past before I ever ran into him."

"Uh huh," he gave me a knowing look. "The way I hear it, he wasn't the only one staring."

"Yeah, yeah. Someday you're really gonna have to tell me what Edward said when he talked about me."

He threw an arm around my shoulder as we made our way down the hall and up the stairs. "Not a chance, Ding Dong. The boy's gotta maintain some dignity."

"What? You're _never_ going to tell me?" I pouted, giving him the Bambi eyes.

He eyed me shrewdly and I watched him cave. "Alright, uh, maybe someday." I grinned and he grinned deviously back, "Like maybe at your wedding."

I blushed at the thought.

"Or maybe at Lafonda's first birthday," he laughed, loudly.

I glared at him. I hated being reminded of my drunken slip, but it had happened at every possible chance over the last couple weeks. Jack Daniels was still on my list. Lafonda was probably going to graduate from high school before I could forgive him.

We reached Edward's floor and Emmett threw open the door, waltzing up the to reception desk. "Carmen, my love," he grinned, leaning over the desk. "When are you gonna let me woo you the way you deserve?"

Carmen was in her early sixties and had pictures of her numerous grandchildren framed all over her desk. "Not until the mister kicks the bucket, hon, but once he goes I'm all yours." She grinned at the wounded expression on Emmett's face and turned to me, "Hi, Bella. How are you today?"

Carmen and I had taken a liking to each other the moment Edward introduced us. Funnily enough, he warned me that she might not like me because she was inordinately protective of him. She later told me that she was only protective with the man-eater clients that viewed Edward as fresh meat, and apparently they were easily deterred by her frequent use of the bitch brow. From that point on she would make it a point to tell me each time she saw me that she was still looking after our boy. I kinda loved her.

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"I'd be a lot better if that boy of ours wasn't wound up tighter than a…" She floundered for a moment, thinking of a metaphor, before waving her hands, "Oh, tighter than something that's wound tight."

Emmett and I both laughed at her floundering, though some part of me was concerned for my boyfriend's current state of mind. I was thoughtful like that. "What's got him so wound up?"

She shrugged, "Oh, you know, one of his client's being a bit dense, or something. All I know is that he's tetchy as hell and I'm not going in his office today if I can help it. And you," she pointed at Emmett. "Don't go making him worse. I'm the one that has to deal with Mr. Crankypants when you come in and insist he's a redheaded stepchild, or make fun of his girly hands or his stalking his girlfriend."

"Wait, what? You know about that, too?" And what is this about girly hands? I have seen those hands up close and personal and there is nothing girly about them. Mmm, Edward's hands…

Carmen smiled indulgently, "Oh, sweetie, you've been a long time coming."

The phone rang then and she shooed Emmett and me away with a brush of her hands.

We obediently continued down the hall to Edward's office. It was one of the smaller offices and, like the rest, had a large glass panel next to the over-sized door. It was through this window that we could see what Carmen was talking about. Edward was pacing, his shirtsleeves rolled up and his tie pulled loose. He was talking on the phone and his free hand was tugging at his hair, which was really my job, so he should just stop that right now. His face was set in a deep frown and the crease between his eyebrows was so tense, I just wanted to smooth it with my fingers.

I'd never really seen him like this. I suppose it was easy for me to forget that he was a _lawyer_ and his job was maybe, sometimes, a little bit stressful.

Edward saw us through the window and gave us a brief smile before holding up a finger to indicate he was almost done on the phone. Emmett and I just started to surreptitiously flick each other to pass the time when Edward opened the door. He greeted us with a smile, but it looked a little forced.

"Hey. What brings you two here?" He gestured us into his office.

Emmett plopped into the chair behind Edward's desk, causing Edward to roll his eyes, and I moved to Edward's side. He slung an arm over my shoulder and dropped a quick kiss to the top of my head.

"I was in the neighborhood dropping off blueprints for a client and thought I'd drop in and say hi. I picked up a stray on my way in," Emmett said as he swiveled Edward's chair from side to side.

"I am not a dog, Emmett. Or a street urchin."

"Street urchin? What is this, _Newsies_?"

"Street urchins are more _Les Miserables_ than _Newsies_, Em," Edward interjected tiredly.

"Taking her side already? Bros over hos, man." Emmett laughed at his own remark and Edward shook his head, trying to hide a small smile.

I poked his side, mildly concerned by his lack of comeback. Normally, Emmett and hos involved in the same sentence would invoke some kind of smart aleck reaction. "Hey, you okay?" I asked quietly.

He smiled. "I'm fine. Just dealing with a big problem one of my musicians created for himself by signing a contract before he should have."

"Sorry. Going to be a late night, then?"

He nodded. "Very late. Probably for the rest of the week actually."

"So dinner tonight is off, I take it?"

"Shit." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot we were supposed to have dinner tonight."

I shrugged, "It's okay."

He looked into my face, checking to make sure I was really okay with it. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I should probably get more work done myself, anyway."

Edward dropped his forehead to mine, the gesture more tired than endearing. "Next week."

I nodded, his head moving with mine. "Next week is fine. We can maybe go out before Jasper's show on Friday."

Edward hummed some form of agreement.

Emmett cleared his throat, "Right. Well now that you've had your moment, Edward, I also dropped by to tell you that mom wants to do dinner together next Saturday."

Edward turned to his brother and grinned, "Next Saturday? Why would we have dinner then? It's not a special occasion or anything, right?"

Emmett gave him a mock glare and flipped him off. I turned to Edward for explanation. "It's Emmett's birthday."

"Ah," I nodded. "So dinner will be at four o'clock, right? Isn't that dinner time for senior citizens?"

This time I was the one to be flipped off. "You are hilarious, Ding Dong. And here I was going to invite you to my awesome birthday dinner, complete with crab legs and steak."

"Isn't steak hard to eat with dentures?" Edward teased.

Emmett pouted, "I don't like you guys together."

"Sorry, Emmett. I'll bring you a really awesome birthday gift to make up for it," I conceded.

He grinned. "See that you do. You're invited again."

Edward rolled his eyes before sighing. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I really appreciate you guys coming by, and I'm sorry to have to do this, but I have a long afternoon of negotiations ahead of me, so…"

Emmett stood from Edward's desk. "Say no more, little bro. I'll let mom know you and Bella will both be at dinner next Saturday."

Emmett headed out the door and I made to follow when Edward quickly tugged on my hand. He surreptitiously glanced around outside his office to make sure no one was watching and then quickly pulled me into a kiss. I sighed and fought to keep from deepening it, or hitching a leg over his hip and throwing him down on his desk. He had that issue with propriety at the workplace.

I was happy to see him smiling again as I left his office. I much preferred happy Edward to tightly wound Edward.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sporadically working on coverage for Aro and emailing back and forth with Seth. We were both really happy with the latest draft of his story and we decided I would start pitching it to our short list of publishers in the next week. I'd already gotten a response to most of my inquiry letters and nearly all of them were positive. All in all, I was pleased with the amount of work I'd gotten done and was getting my stuff together to leave for the day when there was a light knock on the door. I looked up to find Carmen looking a mite concerned.

"Hi, Carmen. What's up?"

"I'm not bothering you, am I?"

I shook my head. "No, I was just packing up, actually."

She let out a relieved sigh, "Perfect. Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"I need you to get Edward out of his office."

I frowned. "Out of his office? Is something wrong?"

"Not necessarily, but he didn't take a lunch break and from the look of things he's going to be at least a few hours, yet. I just want to make sure he's not working himself too hard."

"And you think he'll let me drag him out of his office?"

She smiled at me knowingly, "Oh I think he'll let you do just about anything. You should really experiment more with the power you hold over that boy."

I laughed and shook my head. "Experimenting, eh? Well, I'll start by trying to get him out of his office if you say that's what he needs."

Her smile was one of relief, "He does. I think he almost called his client a moron earlier this evening. I figure if Edward, Mr. Upright and Proper, is to the point that he's going to start throwing insults, someone needs to intervene."

Personally, I'd heard Edward insult his brother on several occasions with far more derogatory terms than moron, so it wasn't completely unheard of, but the thought of him insulting one of his own clients was definitely cause for concern. I finished gathering my things and followed Carmen out of my office, waving goodbye to her as she headed toward the building's exit and I headed up to the third floor. The office was mostly deserted except for the odd light on in a few distant offices, and I slowly made my way toward Edward's.

I glanced in through the glass panel by the door and saw him sitting hunched over his desk. His chin was perched on one of his hands and the other hand looked ready to tear out his hair, it was fisted so tightly. His eyes were squeezed shut and I could tell from the terse muttering that he was on speakerphone. I couldn't hear anything, but damn was I happy I wasn't on the other end of that conversation.

I cautiously tapped on the glass. Apparently I didn't tap loud enough, because I didn't get so much as a cursory glance. I'm not gonna lie, I was a tiny bit terrified of tapping any louder. Edward looked ready to snap and I didn't want to be the one to make him do it. I took a deep breath. I was the girlfriend. This was my job. He would be happy to see me, and he needed to get out of his office. He wouldn't snap at me, we were going to have babies together. I'm sure I would snap at him during some of that labor bit, but not today. Today, I could do this.

I tapped a little louder on the glass. Immediately Edward's head shot up and his glare was really kind of scary. Luckily, it only lasted a second and when he realized it was me, he gave me a small smile and gestured me into his office.

I opened the door quietly, knowing he was still on speakerphone.

He picked up the phone from the cradle as I sat down and rubbed a tired hand over his face as he listened to whomever was talking.

"I understand that, but you have to understand that you can't just ignore the legal ramifications of signing a contract without the terms we'd previously laid out."

He sighed and I admired Edward in full lawyer mode. His desk was framed by bookshelves packed full with legal books. A straight-backed wooden chair was in the back corner and it was haphazardly covered with files. Files were piled on the floor around the bookshelves and his desk, and I had to admit that he was more disorganized than I expected. Something about Edward screamed type-A, straight-laced to me, but his office didn't reflect that at all. The open walls were covered with framed band posters and CD sleeves. I assumed they were from clients he'd gotten signed. There were a few frames on his desk and bookshelf of him with his brother and his parents.

"Yes, fine," he snapped into the phone. "Tomorrow at eight o'clock."

He put the phone back on the receiver and dropped his head to his desk, banging it in frustration several times. He still hadn't said anything to me, so I wasn't sure what to do. When he left his head on his desk and began muttering about something I couldn't understand I decided I was going to have to take a pretty straightforward approach. I moved around to his side of the desk and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I guess I don't need to ask how you're doing?"

He sat up and gave me a look that was half-glare, half condescending eyebrow quirk. Two faces at once? Fancy, hot lawyer man, but you can't out snark me.

"Come on." I tugged on his arm, but he sat resolutely in his chair.

"Bella, I'm sorry, but I really can't head out yet. My client made an absolute clusterfuck of his career this morning and I'm doing everything I can to fix it."

I'm not gonna lie, hearing him say 'clusterfuck' did things to me, but I pushed the hormones aside for a moment. Boyfriend was stressed and I needed to fix it. Although…

I spun his chair and leaned into his personal space. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help? I didn't come up here to tell you to go home, just to give you a little break." I spoke softly and ran a hand through his hair, fighting back a smirk as his head dropped back and his hands fisted on the arms of his chair. Ooh, these girlfriend powers were strong. Carmen was right; I needed to experiment more.

"Bella."

I couldn't tell if it was a warning or a plea or just an acknowledgment that yes, it's me, your girlfriend, Bella.

"Edward," I offered casually in response.

He lifted his head and opened his eyes. "We can't have sex in my office."

I smirked, "Who said anything about sex? I was simply going to suggest that we go to Starbucks for a quick coffee break and a sandwich. You really should eat something." I stood back up, intentionally moving out of the danger zone, which was really anywhere within kissing range of any part of Edward's body. "It's not healthy to skip meals, Edward."

Just as I moved to take a step to the other side of his desk, Edward reached out and snagged my hand, yanking me back to him. I lost my balance, which was clearly his intention, and landed solidly in his lap. Hot Lawyer Man had a very nice lap.

"I'm not hungry," Edward spoke lowly into my ear. I tried to hide the fact that his voice in my ear like that made me shiver, but based on his slight chuckle I'm guessing I didn't succeed. Damn, his boyfriend powers were strong, too.

I shifted a little so I could see his face and he groaned lowly. Intrigued, I shifted a little more. Well, hello.

"We really shouldn't have sex in my office."

I smirked, "You keep saying that when I haven't even mentioned sex. Coffee, Edward. Food. These were the breaks I was talking about."

"Uh huh," he gripped my hips and leaned in to kiss me. "Coffee and food." He took his time, just barely sucking my lower lip into his mouth. "Sounds like a nice break."

I tangled my hands in his hair, lightly scraping against his scalp in the hope that I would relieve any damage he'd caused his poor hair in the course of the day. I claimed his mouth a little more roughly and I felt his hands tug at the back of my work shirt, snaking their way underneath to caress the skin of my lower back. It was one of his signature moves, I was learning, and I quite liked it. Next he would splay his hands over my hips, the thumbs rubbing over the area of my hipbones and his fingers wrapping around my lower back. Yup, yup, there were the thumbs. I loved it when he did this. The way he gripped me felt so possessive and protective, plus it was further proof that the man had rather large hands.

I mentally shifted my focus from Edward's hands. This break was supposed to be about him, not me. And since clearly my coffee plan wasn't panning out, I would just have to relieve his stress other ways.

I tugged at the collar of his button-down shirt so that I could kiss the divot between his collarbones. Edward moaned quietly and his head dropped to the back of his chair again. I grinned and shimmied out of his lap. There was some sound of vague disappoint, but he was too far gone to make any proper complaint. Besides, I doubted he would complain once he realized my intention.

My guess was that all of Edward's 'we can't have sex in my office' proclamations had something to do with being found out by one of the partners at the firm. I was also guessing that some of the lights still on in other offices when I came in were those of partners. This wasn't going to _stop_ me, of course, it just meant I'd have to leave most of his clothes on. See, I can be responsible.

My fingers trailed down his shirt and gripped at his belt. Edward's head shot up, eyes wide as he took in my new position, kneeling on the floor between his knees, hands pulling at his belt.

"Bella," he squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth as I slowly undid his zipper. "You don't have to do–"

"Edward," I cut him off sharply. "If you tell me I don't have to do what I'm very obviously about to do, I will actually stop and take you out for coffee instead." I was going to permanently ban the gentleman from sexy times if it was the last thing I did.

He smirked. "Okay, then. Just ignore me."

So I did. Well, I didn't _really_ ignore him. I mean, it was sort of hard to ignore the man when I was on my knees in front of him, but I did ignore any inhibitions about getting down and dirty in his office.

Soon Edward's hands were fisting in my hair and I was internally praising myself for the sounds he was making. He was obviously trying to restrain himself, but I'm quite good at this particular act (my best friend was once a manwhore, after all, and TMI as some of those conversations were, I did get some good tips over the years) and Edward's office was filled with quiet moans and the chanting of my name. His hips began lifting from his chair to meet my mouth and I couldn't hold back my own moan. Edward's hips shuddered then and I glanced up to see him biting his fist to keep from crying out.

I sat back on my heels, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand as delicately as I could. Edward's head collapsed on the back of his chair, eyes closed, and his arms hung limply over the sides. I was quite proud of myself that there wasn't a hint of tension anywhere in his body. I snickered a bit at the absolutely sated expression on his face and Edward opened one eye to look at me.

"Something funny, there, babe?"

I shook my head, smirking. "Nope."

He reached for my hand and pulled me back up onto his lap, dropping his head to my shoulder once I was there. "Mmm," he sighed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I laughed.

"You're kind of the best girlfriend ever."

"Well, thanks. I don't think this is what Carmen had in mind when she asked me to make sure you weren't working too hard, though."

"Carmen asked you to do that?"

"Well no, she didn't ask me to do _that_. She asked me to get you out of your office."

"Well I liked this better."

"I still didn't feed you, though, you need to eat."

"Food? Was there a mention of food at some point? I must have missed that," he smirked.

"Yes, mister 'we can't have sex in my office.' Believe it or not, I didn't actually come in here to seduce you."

"Sure you didn't."

"I didn't!"

"Uh huh. My pants just took themselves off."

I shoved him in the shoulder and he laughed, placing a kiss on my temple. "I'd really love to take you up on that offer for coffee, or even to continue this somewhere a little more comfortable and a little less public, but I'm afraid I have an eight o'clock meeting to prepare for."

I shrugged. "It's okay. I don't mind being kicked out after sex. I mean, we are on Rodeo Drive. _Pretty Woman_ and all that."

He laughed and I was pleased to hear it considering the state of mind he'd been in when I entered his office. "I don't think Julia Roberts ever did that for Richard Gere."

"That's what you think. I'm sure a whole lot more happened on top of that piano than they let on."

As soon as I mentioned the piano I could see the wheels turning in his mind, and I knew he was picturing a reenactment of what we just did on his piano. Of course, his baby grand piano was currently at his parents' house. Hot Lawyer Man had a dirty mind, but I had to draw the line somewhere, and I doubted my future in-laws would appreciate coming home to find me going down on their baby boy.

"Not happening, babe. I will not be a sexual deviant in your parents' house."

He frowned, "Come on, it hardly makes you a sexual deviant. I mean, you just did it in my office where any of my co-workers could have walked by and seen us."

"First of all, your office is nearly empty. Second, I was covered by your desk. Anyone walking by would have thought you were having some weird sort of fit in your office chair. And based on what I've seen of you today, I doubt they'd give it much of a second thought."

"Yeah, well, we'll see. I have my ways," he grinned deviously.

I rolled my eyes. He didn't need confirmation of how strong his boyfriend powers were. "Seriously, though, can I bring you dinner or something?"

He smiled and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "No. Thanks, though. I was just planning on having something delivered here."

"Are you sure? I don't mind going to get you something."

He shook his head. "It's okay, really. You should go home and relax. We don't both need to be run ragged. I'm sure I'll be cranky enough for the both of us by the time the week is over."

I grinned and stood from his lap. "Not if I have anything to do about it."

He smiled and tugged my hand, pulling me down to give me another kiss. "Thanks again for the –" he cleared his throat, "distraction."

I leaned down to kiss _him_ this time before walking toward the door. "Call me later and make sure you go home tonight. Don't sleep at the office, it's bad for your health and Carmen will think I'm slacking on my girlfriend duties."

"Oh," he grinned. "I will tell Carmen that you are very, very good at your girlfriend duties."

I shook my head at him and opened the door to leave.

"Bye, babe."

"Bye," I waved as I closed his office door quickly behind me. I shook my head, trying to ignore the fact that I very nearly let an 'I love you' casually slip out as I left. Being his girlfriend felt more and more natural every day, to the point that scaring him away now might actually damage me. Best to keep that little 'hopelessly in love with you' revelation to myself for the time being.

**Review question: What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas (or what was your favorite Hanukkah gift/gift you would have liked to get)? And your answer cannot be Rob/Edward, so ha! I would like Santa to bring me a pair of jeans that fit. I had babies and they ate my butt, so I'd like that back, too, either one, I'm not picky.**

**I have big news to share… First, A Room With a View made it to the second round of voting in both categories for the Avant Garde awards! Thank you all for voting. Now if you could head back on over to http:/twilightfb-awards . /p/vote . html and vote again for Best Edward and Best Canon Pairing I would be forever in your debt. There are also some truly amazing stories in the running, so check 'em out.**

**Second, I was recently made a VIP author over at A Different Forest! (adifferentforsest . com) I'm so incredibly excited about this. My stories will now be posted there as well as here and soon I'll have my very own cabin (forum) that you can come bug me at. You can tell me your crazy theories about Aro, or pester me about updates, or tell me how your Christmas tree caught on fire. I don't care as long as you come hang out with me!**

**Thanks for this chapter go to my lovely Cheyenne Masen, without whom I would have long ago been found rocking myself in a corner. The lovely Melanie, and Ms. JackieJones, thank you for your mad prereading/beta skills!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Not mine and not for profit. If you find a way that I'm profiting from this monetarily instead of through my own general joy and amusement, then please to be sharing, 'cause I'm unaware.**

**Thank you for being my personal fic fairies, Cheyenne Masen, JackieJones11, and IdPattThat. **

**To recap, Bella helped Edward *****cough***** relieve stress last chapter…**

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Edward was not kidding when he said he would be cranky enough for the both of us when the week ended. He actually worked a lot of the weekend, too, and I might have sort of kicked him out of my apartment Saturday night because he spent two out of three hours with me on his phone. I mean, I'm completely in like with the man (or love, whatever), but he was giving me a complex ignoring me like that.

Had it not been for the fact that, while he was on the phone, we were both on the couch and he was just as touchy feely as ever (while tersely lawyering the hell out something or other), I might have been concerned that the honeymoon phase was over. Instead, he spent the whole time running his fingers through my hair or tracing his fingers over my lower back while I laid my head on his lap, pretending I could hear the movie over his work talk. I couldn't. And talking through _Bend It Like Beckham_ is uncool. I need to hear Coach Joe talk; that's the whole point. So when Edward's conversation showed no sign of concluding any time soon, I shooed him out the door under the pretense that I was tired. Mostly, I didn't want him to feel guilty about ignoring me.

Tonight, however, was the following Friday night, and Edward was practically vibrating with excitement at not being stuck at the office. He had salvaged the career of the self-sabotaging musician, and the result was an Edward that was acting like a twelve-year-old hopped up on pixie stix.

At the moment, he was chatting up the Starbucks barista like they were long lost friends.

Jasper was playing across the street in an hour or so and was decidedly nervous because there was some bigwig record exec that was supposed to be there. I didn't know the details, but I did know that calming him down was going to take more than a ten-minute interlude with Alice before the set. Alice knew this as well, so when they disappeared to a back room over an hour before his set, I decided to find another way to amuse Edward and myself. Watching an empty stage was not my idea of a good time, and Jasper was the only performer tonight, so I dragged Edward to Starbucks.

"Bella, did you know that the holiday drinks were originally custom orders that some customers made in Seattle that a barista found interesting and passed along to corporate?"

I smirked at Edward as he sat in the seat next to me, setting my soy chai in front of me. "No, Edward, I did not know that," I said slowly, as if appeasing a small child.

He mock glared at me, "Don't patronize me, woman, it's an interesting fact."

I laughed and patted his cheek. "You're cute."

He huffed and sipped on his latte, muttering something about not wanting his girlfriend to think he was cute, which really just made him cuter. I don't think I'd ever used the term _cute _before Edward came around. Was it possible for love to dumb down your vocabulary? I'd have to google that later.

We settled into a comfortable silence as we observed the people around us. Apparently Starbucks was the place to be on a Friday night because there wasn't an open table or chair in sight. I always loved people watching at places like this, where it was easy to be discreet. One couple, who appeared to a be a few years younger than Edward and me, most likely still in college, were pretty clearly on their first date. I chuckled at their awkwardness, some part of me rejoicing that Edward and I never seemed to encounter that phase. Must have been all that intense eye contact when he walked down the hall for all those months. Chalk one up for being a wuss.

"What are you smirking at?" Edward interrupted my first-date-stalking.

I gestured in the couple's direction with my head, "Them. They're on a first date, and there probably won't be a second."

He turned to stare at the couple in question, and I smacked his arm. "Don't stare at them! Then they'll know I'm mocking them."

He turned back to me and quirked an eyebrow, "You're mocking them? And how do you know they're on a first date?"

"Well I'm mocking them in my head," I rolled my eyes. Hello, wasn't that part obvious? "And you can tell they're on a first date by how they're sitting and what they're talking about. See, she's trying to flirt, leaning over the table, but he looks a little traumatized. Probably by the fact that she's been talking about how insensitive her ex-boyfriend was for the last three minutes."

Edward looked mildly impressed by my observational skills. I had a lifetime of practice. "And _how_ do you know that's what she's been talking about?"

"Because I can hear her, of course. Or, at least, I heard, 'He was… oh my gosh… late… half hour… and then he… every time… annoyed… he always… too good for… puppy.' The puppy part might have to do with something else, but clearly she was talking about her ex."

Edward laughed. I'm pretty sure he was laughing at me, too. "Your mind is a scary place. I do not want to know what you thought about me before you met me."

I blushed. I didn't want him to know what I thought about him before we met either, but mostly because my mind was uncharacteristically blank whenever I would see him. He was so pretty he made me dumb, and he didn't need to know that.

He turned to another group of people near us. "Okay, how about them? What's their story?"

I looked at the girls he was referring to, taking a minute to observe them. It was a group of three girls, high schoolers, if I had to guess.

"Well, the two on the left are clearly pretending that they have somewhere better to be on a Friday night. And it is totally the girl on the right's fault that they are sitting in Starbucks instead of out on a date with the hotties from the football team. The one on the right is kinda happy that her friends are giving her the time of day, and she kinda wants them to drop dead at the same time. See, she's talking about the skater boy that she pretends to hate because her friends don't think he's cool, but secretly she has a crush on him and inside she's saying, 'Screw you guys. I hate high school.'"

While Edward fought to hold in his laugh, he gestured to another couple behind me. I took a quick glance before turning back to Edward, grinning. "They're breaking up, and trying to be quiet about it. She's two minutes away from bursting out crying, or throwing her extra hot latte at his face. He can't decide which he'd rather she do, but really, he's a few minutes away from running out the front door and doing a happy dance. Clearly, she's more drama than she's worth."

I could do this all freaking night. People watching was one of my favorite hobbies.

"I don't know," he smirked. "She's pretty hot."

I gaped at him and smacked him on the arm. "She is not hot!"

He nodded, "She really kinda is, though."

"Okay, even if she is hot, it doesn't outweigh the crazy. You know the crazy scale that Barney and Ted use on _How I Met Your Mother_? Yeah, she's on the wrong side of the line."

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

He grinned. "You're cute when you're jealous."

I flipped him off. No need to dignify his comment with a verbal response. Clearly, I didn't hide jealousy well. Hot Lawyer Man was mine. He was only supposed to have eyes for me. I am the only hot girl in the world! Okay, maybe that was taking it too far, but whatever, I'm a girl, I'm supposed to be irrational about these things.

He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss before standing up. It was really kind of ridiculous how that small, wonderfully familiar gesture reduced my ire. Damn the man and his lips and his kisses. How was I ever going to win an argument?

Edward reached for my hand and I took his, letting him pull me in for another quick kiss before heading out the door. Yeah, _let _him pull me in. Ha. Like I would ever not let him kiss me.

We got back a few minutes before Jasper took the stage, and Alice assured us he was relaxed and ready. Not that she really needed to tell us; her sex hair spoke for itself.

Unsurprisingly, Jasper rocked his set. I was beyond excited for him. The way he spent the week talking about tonight made me think it was a make it or break it moment for him, and I was so proud of how well he played. Unlike his past shows, Jasper was sidelined by dudes in suits when he was normally packing up his gear. I was happily surprised when he gestured Edward to his side.

"That has to mean something good, right? That he wants Edward there?" Alice sidled up next to me, anxiously watching our men talk business.

I slung an arm around her shoulder, "I'm sure of it, Ali. It's about time Jasper got a break like this. He's been playing the popular stages to packed houses for too long now without something good coming from it."

She nodded, still looking more worried than necessary, so I dragged her to the bar. I knew Edward would want another beer, and Alice got Jasper a celebratory whiskey. Or a 'drown your sorrows' whiskey, depending on how this informal little meeting went.

We sat ourselves at a table where we could casually watch the discussion. Edward noticed us sitting there and shot me a smirk and a wink before turning his attention back to the record bigwigs. My boyfriend winked at me. And I swooned. I was such a girl.

There was a lot of gesticulating and friendly smiling and a whole round of hand shaking before the boys sauntered over to us. Boys and their swagger. But damn if I didn't like it. Alice stood, nervously biting her thumbnail while trying to decipher Jasper's half smile.

"Is this whiskey for me, darlin'?"

Alice put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "That's it? You have a meeting with record execs and you come back from it just to ask me if the whiskey is for you? What the fuck, Jasper? How did it go?"

Damn, the girl was way more wound up about this than I realized.

Jasper chuckled, and I thought about telling him that a chuckle wasn't a good enough response to keep Alice from castrating him even if he'd just signed the biggest record deal in the history of big record deals. Before she could rob him of his family jewels, though, he leaned in and gave her a kiss, whispering something to her as he pulled back.

She seemed placated enough, and her smile now matched his. I was confused.

Edward seemed to realize this and sat down next to me, reaching for the beer I'd gotten for him. "The execs are still here, so it's best not to show a strong reaction, but they want to meet with Jasper this week to talk about a contract. From what I can tell, it's all on the up and up. I've worked with them before."

I tried not to let my excitement show, but I was pretty sure my eyes were round as saucers anyway. "So he's being signed?"

Edward shrugged, "He's on his way, yes."

I did a girly squeal on the inside. Jasper caught my eye then, and we internally did our super secret roommate dance. Yes, we had one of those. And we could do it internally together because we are awesome. We didn't even miss a step.

Soon the important people left, with a nod to Jasper on their way out, and Alice started bouncing up and down like Draco Malfoy when he was turned into a ferret. I really needed to work on using similes that didn't reference Harry Potter.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking whatever Jasper told us to. Apparently he decided that since it was his big night, he got to tell us what to do. I wasn't sure how we all agreed to it, but I do know that I consumed more whiskey than I ever cared to and Jasper and I ended up showing Alice and Edward our super secret roommate dance, which really kind of defeated the purpose since it was supposed to be a secret and all.

Despite the whiskey, however, I was still only tipsy when we left, and I woke the next morning without a hint of hangover, which was particularly nice considering it was the first morning that I awoke to Edward in almost two weeks. And let me tell you, waking up to that man running his fingers through my hair and looking at me like I hung the moon beats waking up to a Jack Daniels headache and an 'I wanna have your babies' confession every day of the week.

He smirked and leaned in to kiss my forehead. Morning breath was gross and even his perfect mouth wasn't immune, so I was more than content with the forehead kiss.

"You realize we have a very long evening with my family ahead of us, right?"

I grinned, "Yup, I have every intention of weaseling lots of incriminating childhood stories out of your mom, too."

"I doubt much weaseling will be necessary."

"Yeah, well, it never hurts to suck up to…" I paused awkwardly as I caught myself from calling Esme my future mother-in-law. "To my boyfriend's mom."

Edward quirked an eyebrow at me, and before he could ask me about my almost word vomit, I rolled myself out of my bed.

"I hope Emmett likes the gift I got him," I deflected. "Where was he last night? I thought he was going to come to Jasper's show."

"I'm sure he'll love your gift," Edward responded as he pulled on his boxers. "And he was planning on coming, but his neighbor's babysitter backed out at the last minute, so he offered to watch her son instead."

"That was nice of him. Does he do that often?" I snatched Edward's t-shirt from the floor, grinning triumphantly when I beat him to it, and put it on over my own boxers. Edward rolled his eyes and moved to get a clean t-shirt from his drawer. Yup, he had a drawer. We were couple-y and cute like that. Straight out of a Taylor Swift song, I tell you. Soon Edward was going to tell me that our song is the slamming screen door, sneaking out late, tapping on my window, his expensive shoes clicking on the floor, and I ogle him from the door. Ha, I should be a lyricist.

"Every once in a while. His neighbor is a single mom, widowed, I think, and her son took a liking to Emmett when he moved in, I guess. Emmett's just happy to have someone around that matches his maturity level."

I smacked him in the arm on my way to the bathroom, "Be nice. Your brother is sweet."

"Oh god, it's Katie Murphy all over again!" Edward groaned melodramatically. My little drama queen.

I laughed at him and smacked his butt as he walked passed the bathroom on his way to the kitchen.

"Do you want tea or coffee?" He shouted down the hall.

"Tea!" I responded, toothbrush hanging out of my mouth. I loved easy mornings with this man.

Turns out, I loved Cullen family dinners even more than I loved easy mornings with just Edward. Well, maybe not _more_, but only because I couldn't exactly show up at Emmett's house wearing nothing but Edward's t-shirt and some girl boxers that barely covered my ass. The good doctor might not approve, though I had a strange feeling Mama Cullen would be impressed. Ah hell, Carlisle probably would be, too. I'm just positive they want a future daughter-in-law with some moxie. Yup, I'm sure of it.

The little boy that answered Emmett's door, however, might have been traumatized.

"Who are you?" The adorable little boy asked the instant he opened the door to Emmett's house. We didn't even manage a knock before it was thrown open to reveal his big, brown eyes. My best guess put him around three or four years old, but I didn't put much stock in my knowledge of kids.

Edward smirked, crouching a bit to be more at the boy's level before reaching out his hand, "I'm Edward, Emmett's brother. You're Ben, right? We've met before."

Ben's face scrunched up in thought, "We have? I don't remember you." He didn't seem bothered by his lack of memory and quickly diverted his attention to me. "Who's that?" He asked Edward, pointing at me with all the lack of shame that only children possess.

Edward chuckled, "That's Bella, my girlfriend."

I smiled, reaching out to shake his hand. He took it in his small, still chubby hand and gave me an impish grin. Was the kid flirting with me? I liked him.

"She's pretty." Yep, I definitely liked this kid.

"Yes," Edward nodded. "She's very pretty." Alright, I really liked him, too.

"Emmett told me that _she_ can come in but _you_ can't." And with that Ben turned on his heel and left us standing in Emmett's doorway.

I laughed at Edward's affronted look and brushed past him to move into Emmett's house. I moved to close the door on Edward, laughing at his thoroughly gobsmacked expression.

"What? You heard the man," I shrugged.

He glared at me before putting a hand on the front door to stop me from closing it on him, "Cute."

I grinned. "Ben seems to think so."

We followed the sounds of Edward's family to the kitchen and saw that Esme and Carlisle were already there, chatting with Emmett as they went about making dinner.

"Bella!" Esme beamed, leaving her spot at the stove to give me a welcoming hug. "It's so good to see you again!"

I smiled, refraining from snuggling into this woman's embrace. She was just such a mom, I wanted her for my own. "It's good to see you, too. I see Emmett wasn't kidding about his birthday dinner being steak and lobster."

"Ding Dong, I never kid about food, especially the surf and turf variety."

Carlisle gave me a smile and a wave on his way to the backyard where I assumed he was taking the steaks to grill.

"Dude," Emmett said to Ben, who was munching on a carrot at the breakfast bar. "Remember what I told you about the one with the crazy hair?" He gestured to Edward.

Ben shrugged, "I told him you said he couldn't come in, but he followed her."

"You just can't find a good bouncer these days," Emmett sighed dramatically before shooting Ben a grin and ruffling his hair. "It's alright, Benji, I've been trying to get rid of him since the day my parents brought him home from the hospital, and I haven't had any better luck than you."

"Maybe he just really likes you and doesn't want to go away," Ben responded.

Edward looked like he was tempted to argue, but didn't want to burst the innocent boy's bubble.

"You're probably right," Emmett grinned, causing Edward to glare at him.

Esme rolled her eyes at the pair of them. "Edward, go help your father with the grill out back, you know he'll burn the steaks if he's left out there alone. He'll spend the whole time playing Angry Birds instead." He turned to me, clearly about to ask me if I was okay, or if I wanted to join him, but Esme shooed him away, "She'll be just fine here with us, Eddie. Go."

He pouted at his mom and muttered something about stupid angry birds on his way out the door. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Can I help with anything, Esme?" I asked.

"I have the meal covered, but you could get drinks for everyone if you don't mind. I know Carlisle will want a beer, and I'll have a glass of wine."

I gathered everyone's drinks, knowing Edward would want beer, and then went to set the table. I seemed to have attracted a shadow because Ben followed me every time I moved from the kitchen to the dining room.

"Do you want to help me set the table, Ben?" I asked him after he followed me for the third time.

"Um, my momma says I'm not supposed to touch the dishes. I broke a whole pile once." He seemed quite proud of this fact.

"Alright, how about I'll put the plates down and you put the silverware down. You can't break silverware."

"Are you sure?" He asked warily.

"Positive."

Ben decided to get creative with the place settings. Some settings had three forks, but no knife and spoon, and some had the silverware hiding under the plates. The kid was a genius. The entire time he gave me a running commentary of his life. He was named after his dad, but he never met his dad because his dad died fighting bad guys before he was born. He had a kitty named Ninja. His favorite color was blue, but his room was painted green because his mom painted his room before she knew he would grow up to like the color blue. His mom helped sick people at the hospital and she was really pretty. He liked preschool because they had snacks and recess, which was when you get to play outside, and his favorite movie was _Toy Story_. It was the most enlightening table setting conversation I'd ever had.

By the time Edward came in from helping his dad man the grill, Ben and I were perched at the breakfast bar, Ben on my lap, as we both ate the veggie plate Esme set out.

"It looks like you have some competition," Emmett grinned.

"What's competition?" Ben asked.

"It means you're going to steal his girlfriend from him," Emmett answered.

"You mean Bella? Mom says stealing isn't very nice."

Edward nodded, "Your mom is right."

"Well, I wouldn't steal Bella. She's too old to be my girlfriend." Ben spun in my lap so he could face me, "But maybe when I'm old you could be my girlfriend."

I couldn't help but laugh and look at Edward. "I don't know, Ben, she might still be my girlfriend," he grinned.

"Well maybe you could share her. Mom says I'm supposed to share."

I laughed, and Edward smirked, "That's a pretty good idea, buddy. You get back to me when you're older."

"Knock, knock!" A woman's voice came from the hallway.

"Momma!" Ben yelled as he jumped off my lap.

"Hi, baby," we heard from the hallway before a young woman entered the kitchen. "Hi, Emmett. Oh good, I made it here before you started dinner. I didn't want you to have to worry about feeding Ben. I really can't thank you enough for watching him last night and today."

Emmett smiled at the petite brunette, "Don't even worry about it, Angela. We had fun, didn't we, dude?"

Ben nodded from his perch, "We did. He let me stay up late and we ate ice cream!"

Emmett groaned, "Benji, remember what I said about that?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute before his eyes went wide. "It's a secret," he whispered.

"Well not anymore," Emmett laughed. "Angela, you've met my brother, Edward, before, right?"

"Yes, hi, Edward. Nice to see you, again."

"You too."

"And these are my parents, Esme and Carlisle," Emmett gestured to his parents.

"And that's Bella!" Ben yelled from his spot propped on his mother's hip. "She's Edward's girlfriend, but he said we could share when I'm older."

Angela laughed, "It's nice to meet you all, and Edward, that's very, um, gracious of you."

"You and Ben are welcome to stay for dinner, dear," Esme offered. "We have more than enough food here."

"Thank you, but we're expected at my parent's house for dinner."

"We're going to grandma and grandpa's?" Ben asked excitedly.

"Yes, we are. Go get your bag." Angela moved to thank Emmett again, and he told her about everything they'd done and if Ben had behaved.

On the drive over, Edward told me that our venue for the evening had changed from his parents' house to Emmett's because he'd volunteered to watch Ben overnight the night before and Angela was unsure when she'd be able to get off her shift. Apparently, she was a nurse a Cedars-Sinai, and her usual overnight sitter for Ben had canceled at the last minute. As if I needed more confirmation that the men in this family were perfect. Sheesh.

"Ben's a smart kid," Edward spoke lowly into my ear, leaning over me at the counter.

"Yeah?"

"Yup, any guy that knows to snag you as his girlfriend must be brilliant," he smirked, running his deft fingers along my lower back.

"Way to compliment yourself there, babe." I said, far less sarcastically than I was hoping. His fingers on my skin did things to me.

"Hey, loverboy," Carlisle interrupted. "Help me get all this food to the table while Emmett shows Angela out."

I blushed at being called out by Edward's dad, but Edward merely grinned and gave me a quick kiss before moving away to take plates of steak and lobster to the table. I looked up to find Esme eyeing me, a not unfriendly quirk to her lips. She gestured to the dining room, and we followed Edward and Carlisle, Emmett joining us a few seconds later.

Carlisle raised his beer as we all sat down, "To Emmett, happy birthday, Son."

We all drank to Emmett and laughed as we had to sort out the silverware situation. Edward smirked at me as he pulled his silverware out from under his plate, which had been wobbling on its uneven surface.

"What?" I asked. "Ben wanted to help."

There wasn't much conversation as we dug into our gourmet meal, except, of course, to compliment the gourmet meal. Though I did hear an adorable story about the first time they cooked live lobsters when Edward was nine. He cried when they started screaming in the boiling water and tried to take them out, but burned his hands doing so. He was just too precious.

When we were all gorged and happily loose from the beer and wine, we decided to play Pictionary. Apparently it was a Cullen family tradition, and Carlisle and Emmett demanded I be on their team. Esme and Edward were, supposedly, an unbeatable force.

The boys went to set up the game in the living room while Esme and I brought everything to the kitchen to quickly do the dishes. I insisted on doing them, not having cooked anything, and Edward offered to help, but Esme insisted that we girls do it alone. I would have been worried I was about to be interrogated, but I couldn't fathom being afraid of Esme, even if she asked me about being caught making out the last time we met.

"You know," she began a few minutes into rinsing the dishes. "I've never seen my son this way. So comfortable and at ease with his girlfriend."

"Wasn't he with his last girlfriend for, like, two and a half years?"

We'd already had the girlfriend talk. Apparently there were only two before me, but he dated both of them for a really long time. It was kind of intimidating knowing his shortest relationship was over two years long.

"Yes, sweetheart, that's my point," Esme smiled.

"Oh, well, I'm glad, I guess." How else was one supposed to respond to that kind of comment? "Though I don't really know what makes me different," I said more to myself than to Esme.

"You don't?"

"I mean, I am kind of awesome, but no one seemed to notice before Edward." Esme laughed, thank God. Heaven knew my brand of humor didn't fly with everyone.

"Oh, Bella, you are too much. I'm going to like having you around."

We continued rinsing the dishes and loading them in the dishwasher.

"You were the first girl he pursued; that's what makes you different," she offered a few moments later.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're the first girl he ever talked about wanting to ask out. With Maggie and Tanya I think he felt obligated to date them after they spent so much time pursuing him, investing in a friendship to get close to him. He liked them both well enough, maybe even loved them." I might have mentally growled at the mention of him loving anyone else. "But you are the first girl he ever fretted over before even speaking to you. It was nice to see him wanting something for himself first, for once."

"You know, you're much more forthcoming with information than Emmett has been."

She grinned at me, "Well we women have to stick together. Besides, I already know you're going to make a fabulous daughter-in-law."

"Ladies!" Emmett shouted. "Let's do this! I wanna see Edward cry when he loses to his girlfriend."

"We're coming!" Esme shouted back, winking at me as she left the kitchen.

Did she… I mean, did she really just say that? I shook my head and moved to the living room, trying desperately to recall if I'd slipped at some point and accidently referred to her as my future mother-in-law. I definitely hadn't, so I didn't think she was messing with me, which meant that I was totally in with Mama Cullen.

"Hey," Edward whispered as he pulled me closer to him on the couch. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I dunno, you just look a little lost in thought or something. Did my mom give you a hard time?" He looked mildly concerned, shooting a furtive glance at his mother who was whispering something to Carlisle.

I smirked, "Definitely not. But she did tell me how much you freaked out about asking me out before we ever spoke."

He groaned, "Is nothing sacred in this family? Can no one let me pretend to keep my dignity with you?"

I patted him on the cheek, "It's okay, dignity is overrated. Besides, I think it's cute."

"I know," he pouted. "You always think I'm cute."

I laughed at his sad, little pout. "Cute isn't bad, Edward." I leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "I also think you're handsome and sexy and damn, I melt just thinking about what you can do to me with your hands."

"Oh, really now?" He asked with his dangerous smirk, inching that much closer to me. From pouting to sexy in two seconds flat.

Two can play this game, lawyer man. "Uh huh." I looked at him through my lashes because that seemed to work for women on TV. "Who needs dignity when you have that?" I asked innocently.

He bit the corner of his lip, and I could tell he was seconds away from pouncing on me on the couch. Interesting, those TV clichés really do work.

Emmett cleared his throat. "Make bedroom eyes at your girlfriend later, Eddie. Dad, Bella, and I have a game to win."

We almost did win, too, but Edward cheated, shouting to Emmett that I'd gotten him courtside tickets to the Lakers just as Emmett was about to draw what would have been our winning picture. Instead of drawing, Emmett stood there, gaping like a fish and unable to do anything else until he saw the tickets for himself. Stupid boyfriend and his underhanded, Pictionary winning tricks.

Edward bragged about winning the whole way back to his own house, but thanks to my little chat with Esme, I was content to write the night off as a win myself.

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**Oh Esme… **

**Review question: What is your favorite season?**

**Mine is Spring or Summer, but really, it's any season in Southern California. Where I used to live there (near the beach *sigh*), the seasons consisted of Warm and Slightly Less Warm. Now that I live back in Colorado, I miss the warm. Give me back the warm!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: The characters, etc. are not mine. I could claim some of this as my 'intellectual property,' but, well, I'm not feeling all that possessive today.**

**Big thanks to Cheyenne Masen and JackieJones without whom this story would probably be dead by now. Also, thanks to Kelly376 and northernsally, for being extra sets of eyes when I had a mild panic attack.**

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"Yeeees?" I asked as I walked my fingertips up one of Edward's gloriously unclothed pecs. His skin was flushed, and his breathing was only just beginning to level out from his, ahem, exertion.

I was in a decidedly good mood, considering I was awake before my alarm. Then again, I was woken in a very pleasant way. Apparently, Hot Lawyer Man found the only way to diffuse Little Miss Sunshine, and it involved very little clothing and a lot of roaming hands.

"Am I that obvious?" Edward responded, rolling onto his side and propping himself on his elbow.

"No. I'm just _that _good," I grinned.

He rolled his eyes at me and dragged me closer to him with the arm he'd slung over my sheet-covered waist. He pursed his lips, and it was clear he was searching for the right words to tell me something. I would have been concerned, but I was pretty sure that Edward knew better than to bring up something serious when we were both without clothing and his hair looked like, well, it looked like he just woke up, which he did. Damn, my brain is way too slow in the mornings.

I eyed him shrewdly, "Edward Cullen, you did _not _use my weakness toward your hands as a way to butter me up, did you?"

"What? No! Of course not. You don't really think I'd do that, do you?"

Yeah, I wasn't buying his innocent look at all, and merely raised an eyebrow in response.

"Okay," he grinned. "I would. But I didn't this morning. You just looked so damn beautiful, and I couldn't keep my hands to myself."

Well damn. How could I pretend to be mad about that?

"Alright, fine. I'll pretend to believe you're innocent of manipulation just this once. So what is it that you _do _want to ask me then?"

"Has Jasper said anything to you about his meeting this afternoon?"

"Other than the fact that he's nervous about it? No, I don't think so."

"Of course he hasn't," Edward muttered while rolling his eyes. "He says it's not a big deal, but it feels like something I should at least tell you about beforehand."

"Ooookay. Personally, I think you should be slightly more vague and evasive about what it is you're trying to say. That makes it more fun." Okay, maybe Little Miss Sunshine wasn't completely diffused.

Edward smirked. For some reason, Little Miss Sunshine amused him, which of course served to piss her, me, whatever, off more. I should stop using third person this early in the morning.

"I just wanted to let you know that Jasper asked me to be his legal representation at the meeting, and, if it goes well, with his contract and all the subsequent junk that goes with it."

"Subsequent junk?"

"Records, tours, royalties, rights to lyrics, the whole shebang."

"Is that… is that a bad thing?" I was failing to see why he thought this might concern me.

"Well, no, _I_ don't think so. But it means that Jasper and I will interact on a very regular basis for the foreseeable future." He was imploring me to see something about this situation with the look he was giving me, but I couldn't figure out what for the life of me.

"Um, don't you already interact on a regular basis? I mean, are you worried you might have creative differences, and it will make things weird when you see each other here?"

He huffed, "Baby, you're killing me here. My working relationship with Jasper would have very little to do with the creative side of things. I'm _trying_ to give you an out because it means that if you and I don't work out, Jasper and I, and potentially you and I, would still see each other a lot."

"Ohhhh," I nodded. "Got it."

"You really are slow in the mornings," he teased. I punched him in the arm, and grinned when he winced.

"So, you don't have any problem with my representing Jasper? Because I can send one of my colleagues if you're concerned about it." It was sweet that he was so concerned about my potential broken heart, but if we 'don't work out,' I'd have bigger concerns than the fact that he was Jasper's lawyer. Like putting all the tiny pieces of my heart back together. And breathing.

"Well, are you planning on breaking up with me in the foreseeable future?" I asked in a tone that I hoped came off as flippant. Of course, I might have been staring fixedly at a spot on the sheet where it covered Edward's hip because I was just a tiny bit worried about his answer. I mean, clearly he was crazy about me, as he should be, but I'm still a girl, and girls are insecure. It's just a fact of life.

He raised his index finger to my chin and gently lifted it until I was looking at his face, and his smirk. "No."

"In that case," I grinned, "I think you're the perfect man for the job."

He smiled brightly, and it struck me, as something in his eyes seemed to relax, that he wasn't merely asking to protect _my _broken heart, but his, too. Aw, Edward wanted to know if I was as serious about him as he was about me. Be still my heart.

"You think I'm the perfect man," he intoned, putting a hand to his chest and pretending to tear up. It also served as a nice little cover up for his near emotional moment. _Men._

"Selective hearing already, huh?"

My alarm began blaring then, and Edward stretched his arms above his head. He threw the covers off of him and abruptly stood, clearly ready to start his day. I, on the other hand, promptly burrowed back under my pillow and blankets after soundly smacking the off button to the fricking clock. Lounging in bed with Edward was one thing; getting out of bed for work was something entirely different.

I heard Edward chuckle and felt the bed dip as he leaned over it to reach me. He plucked the pillow off the top of my head and smacked me on the butt, "Come on, babe, I didn't go through all that trouble to wake you up so nicely just so you could go back to sleep."

I might have flipped him off in response. Little Miss Sunshine's disappearance was clearly short-lived.

Sooner than I would have liked, I was sitting at work, spinning around in my office chair and wondering how Jasper and Edward's meeting was going. I mean, um, dedicating myself wholly to my job.

"Oh my gosh, you guys have to see this!" Kate's laughing voice interrupted the quiet of our small office.

Garrett and I both rolled our chairs to where Kate was sitting, holding a photo. She rolled her eyes at our refusal to get out of our chairs, but Garrett and I had a bet going to see who could spend the entire workday without leaving their chair. The loser (Garrett) had to roll himself in the losing chair the two blocks down the street to Sprinkles and buy the winner (me) a four pack of red velvet cupcakes. The best cupcakes in the world. And yes, I've sampled every cupcake in the world, so I can say that.

"No. Are you serious?" Garrett started cackling.

Kate nodded and turned the picture to me. "This woman included a picture of herself with her manuscript. And her manuscript is a smutty romance novel."

"Classic," I laughed. "Is it at least any good?"

Kate shook her head, "It's no better than the awesome tunic she's wearing."

"I don't know," Garrett said. "That sculpture of an owl behind her is kind of awesome. Clearly, the lady has taste."

I looked closer at the picture to see that the seriously Botoxed woman was, indeed, standing next to a mostly empty bookshelf that featured a really freaky looking sculpture of an owl. And from the glimpse of a kitchen in the background, the picture seemed to be a snapshot of herself in her house. She was barefoot and everything.

Naturally, we spent the rest of the morning reading the manuscript out loud with our best porn star voices. It was a good thing it was another one of Aro's 'work from home' days.

The afternoon was comprised of endless inquiry phone calls to different publishers, reassuring Seth that we were actually making progress toward getting him published, and an elaborate victory dance when Garrett forgot to stay in his chair while fixing the finicky fax machine. His roll of shame down Little Santa Monica Drive was going to be all over YouTube. I'd feel bad about being so devious, but I know he'd do the same to me. Besides, I was totally going to share my cupcakes. I'm not completely heartless.

I hoped to hear from Edward or Jasper before leaving work, but my cell phone remained decidedly silent. The meeting must have gone long, which I hoped was a good sign. It must mean that there are a lot of details to hammer out when they signed him, right? I tried not to be annoyed by the lack of communication as I headed home. _Ugh, boys_.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the door to my apartment only to have my name shouted at me by two overly enthusiastic men who, from the look of Edward's loosened tie, rolled up sleeves, and lack of shoes, had been done with their meeting for a while.

"Um, hey." I sent them each a pointed look. Edward's smile shifted ever so slightly to a grimace.

"How was your day?" He asked cautiously as he leaned down to give me a kiss.

_How was my day? _ Well, actually, my day wasn't half bad when I thought about my bet with Garrett, but really Lawyer Man? _How was my day? It was spent waiting for your sorry, but very cute, ass to call me after your life-changing meeting with my best friend!_

"Hey," Jasper snarked over Edward's shoulder. "Roomie, put the PMS face away. _I'm_ the one that told your man meat not to call you."

Edward nodded emphatically, his hands resting comfortably on my hips. "It's true. I was going to call you as soon as we got out of the meeting, but he said he wanted to tell you in person."

"And when exactly did your meeting end?" I asked Jasper, giving him the scary brow.

He rolled his eyes, but I could see that he looked a little sheepish. "It ended around two, Mom."

"Jasper Monroe Whitlock! It is after six o'clock. What the hell have you been doing? Why didn't you come by my work to tell me how it went? Wait, was it bad? Did they not sign you? Are you okay? I'm sure there are much better labels out there that are going to be—"

"Damn, woman, shut up!" Jasper cut off my blathering, just as I was really getting going, too.

I frowned. "Don't tell me to shut up, jerk face."

Edward turned his head away from me. I think because he was trying to hide the fact that he was so obviously laughing at me. No, at _Jasper_. He was probably laughing at Jasper. He was too smart to laugh at me. Yup. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

"Jerk face? Really, Bella, are you twelve?"

"Dude, shut up. Just tell me how it went!"

"You just told me not to tell you to shut up and then you tell me to shut up?"

"Jasper!"

Edward was, well, he was full on laughing at us now, but I was more focused on the slow grin that was spreading across my best friend's face.

He didn't even have to say it. I tackle-hugged the crap out of that boy. We ended up in a heap on the floor, talking over each other in our excitement.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so excited!" "They want me, Bells." "You so deserve this!" "They offered me a real contract…" "You're gonna be huge, and brilliant…" "…And they want to get going in the studio as soon as we can…" "…And you're gonna win a Grammy." "…And holy fuck, I'm gonna be a real musician."

Edward just kept on laughing at us. "Can you guys even understand a word the other has said?"

Jasper and I both turned our heads at the same time to face him. We probably also had the same look of exasperation as we both said, "Yes." Roommate synchronization for the win.

Edward just shook his head at us and headed in the direction of the kitchen. I assumed he was scrounging for another beer. Jasper helped me up from the ground, and I gave him another genuine hug before we followed after Edward. I slipped off my shoes and took up my usual perch on the counter. I saw Edward reach for a Corona along with his Heineken and the Shiner he'd grabbed for Jasper. Yeah, we kept three different beers in stock now because we all refused to drink each other's.

"Her limes are in the top drawer," Jasper instructed. Ah, my boys, they took such good care of me.

"So, tell me all about it," I grinned and took a sip from my lime infused beer.

The grin on Jasper's face said it all. He went into detail about a three-record contract, rights to songs, festival tours, and more than I ever realized went into making music. Edward added his two cents as they went along.

I found it funny that we had a perfectly nice living room we could be sitting in, but chose to have this little powwow in the kitchen. Edward even had a 'usual spot' these days. Jasper always leaned against the breakfast bar, I always sat on the counter next to the sink, and Edward always stood next to me, leaning on one of my swinging legs and invariably tracing patterns on my knee with his lovely, lovely fingers. They were giving me details about a possible singer/songwriters tour that they wanted to send Jasper on in the fall when our front door swung open.

"Jasper!" Alice screamed.

I was worried that she was pissed that she hadn't heard from him yet, but the exuberant jump into his arms and complete disregard for Edward's and my presence as she sucked his face told me otherwise. I turned an accusing look on Edward, who pointedly avoided eye contact while taking a rather large gulp of his beer.

I smacked his arm. "You guys went to see Alice at work, but not me!"

"Well, she is his girlfriend."

"I don't care that you went there, dork, but you should have come to my office next!" I might have been whining a little bit, but only a little.

"Quit whining, Bells," Jasper said. Oh, the makeout twins came up for air, apparently.

"We thought you'd be home soon, so we just came here instead," Edward explained.

I huffed, which only made him laugh at me, again.

"So," Alice addressed us all. "How are we going to celebrate?"

"Well we are _not_ going to all get massively drunk and end up naming the children I most certainly do not want to have with Edward." I could joke about it now, sort of. Progress.

Edward smirked, "You can't take back wanting to have my babies. I won't let you."

"Yeah, Bella, quit making Lafonda feel unwanted," Alice grinned. Brat.

"How about next weekend, we all go to my parents' house at the beach? We could make an overnight thing of it, and I'm sure my mom would be thrilled to host a little party of sorts," Edward offered.

"You mean your parents' amazing house that's right on the Strand in Manhattan Beach? Um, yes please. Sounds fun; right, Jasper?"

Jasper just grinned at his diminutive girlfriend; Alice had been wanting to see the Cullens' house ever since I told her about it. "Sounds great, Ali. You're sure your parents won't mind, Edward?"

He shook his head, "Not at all. My mom lives for this kind of thing. I seriously think she was disappointed that I wasn't more social in high school. I never had friends over despite her heavy hints that we had a 'great hang out house.'" He did air quotes and everything. No wonder he didn't have friends in high school.

"Aw, my little social reject." I patted Edward's cheek, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"And anyway, I'm sure Emmett will want to come, too," he continued as if I hadn't done permanent damage to his ego.

"That sounds great, man, thanks," Jasper smiled and did some kind of guy handshake they'd never done before. Apparently, they had a handshake. It was cute, or, er, nice that they were becoming friends on their own.

Since it was a weeknight, and we all had to work the next morning, we decided to celebrate right then with Indian takeout and a mini movie marathon. Unfortunately, Jasper got full pick on the movies – I normally had veto power – which meant we were watching _Saw_, or something equally disgusting and horrifying that I didn't have the stomach to watch. It's not that I'm a wuss or anything, I mean, only sissy girls hide in their boyfriends' shoulders when they're watching a scary movie. I am not a sissy girl. Edward just has exceptionally nice shoulders.

"I had no idea you were such a wuss," Edward whispered in my hair after I sort of jumped a tiny bit at some psycho wielding some instrument that would remove some poor schmuck's appendage.

"I'm not, I just want you to feel like you're fulfilling your role of manly, protective boyfriend."

"Thanks, you're so considerate."

"Just trying to be a good girlfriend," I grinned, and then immediately cringed at the excessive blood-curdling screaming happening in the movie. Edward chuckled and pulled me in just that much closer to his side, such a good, protective boyfriend.

My elation at Jasper's huge career development lasted exactly three hours and twenty-seven minutes into the following workday.

"Aro, you've crossed out over half of the publishers we were planning to pitch to. I already have editor meetings scheduled with two of the six you're saying we can't work with."

Aro gave me a patronizing look over the list I was referring to. He called me into his office after asking me for a list of all the publishers I had contacted or planned on contacting about Seth's manuscript. Considering it was Seth's (and my) first go at this, it was going to take a lot more legwork than your average agent pitch. Any agent worth his salt has a handful (or two or three) of editors that he knows and has a working relationship with at different publishers. When a manuscript comes along that he knows a certain editor would enjoy, it's easy to get it on the editor's desk and read without too much effort. Maybe a little friendly coercion, if necessary.

Being brand new at the agent side of things, I didn't have many editor friends I could call and convince it was of vital importance to their career that they give Seth's story a shot.

"Bella, I know you haven't been working for me for very long." No, only the longest year of my life, diva. "But you should know that the publishers I crossed out will only work with agents from the 'Big Four,' and maybe Gersh or Abrams."

I clenched my teeth in an effort not to snap at my boss and mentor. I was well aware that agents at the 'Big Four' talent agencies, and the few other prominent agencies he mentioned, had a proverbial foot in the door at the publishers with whom I was hoping to work. And believe me, I wished on many occasions that I had enough guts to apply for a job with International Creative Management right out of college. It was my dream job to be one of their lit agents, but I knew I needed experience at a smaller agency first. Hence, the exorbitant dues I was paying at effing Aro Volturi & 'I Don't Actually Have Any Associates' Associates.

However, I also knew the real issue at hand was that Aro had burned a few bridges with some of the publishers I was seeking – or at least that was the word on the street, 'cause I'm so street and all.

"I know that they don't _typically_ work with smaller agencies," _Or you_, I mentally added, but I thought it best not to call out Aro on his stupid ego costing me potential contracts. That would probably be counterproductive. "But like I said, I already have editor meetings next week with two of them. I was hoping you could help me work on my presentation for them."

"I could, but it would be a waste of time. Why don't we focus on some of the independent publishers you've contacted?"

I sighed, though it was really more of a huff, and nodded tersely. There was no way to change Aro's mind once he was convinced of something, but he was sorely mistaken if he thought I was going to pass up the opportunity to pitch _my client_ to editors at publishing houses that could make him as legitimately successful as he deserved to be.

"Now, you have a meeting with John at Harcourt. How are you going to get him to actually _read _the manuscript?" Aro asked over his steepled fingers.

I took a deep breath, ignoring my frustration, and laid out my ideas for getting an editor's interest. Aro just looked bored.

"You sound like an editor, Bella, not an agent," he snapped. "I now know more than I ever needed to know about why _you_ love it; I need to know why _I'm_ going to love it. This is the entire crux of being an agent, Bella." I hated it when he said my name that way, like he was speaking to a child.

I let out a huff and then tried again. And again. Apparently, my enthusiasm for Seth's story was not going to translate to anyone else's enthusiasm for the story. And considering that's what I was counting on to land an editor, I felt completely screwed.

Forty minutes, and my completely shredded confidence, later, I left Aro's office and slumped against the closed door. I didn't want to believe that I had no idea what I was doing, but Aro did know what he was talking about. He hadn't succeeded as a one-man operation because he didn't know what he was doing. Though, in my opinion, his idiotic burned bridges said otherwise. Honestly, who burns bridges with fricking HarperCollins? An idiot, that's who.

It was lunchtime, but I didn't feel like shuffling back into my office and eating my sad, little turkey sandwich. Instead I shuffled my sad, little self up to the third floor.

"Bella! Hi, dear," Carmen said to me sweetly.

I offered her a half-hearted smile in response.

"Oh, one of those days, huh?"

I nodded. "Is Edward in?"

"Yup, he should be in his office. Just head on back, honey."

I hoped my smile was a little more sincere this time. "Thanks."

Edward was actually standing just outside his office, talking to one of his fellow lawyers when I rounded the corner. I must have looked pathetic because he quickly begged out of the conversation and ushered me into his office.

"Are you okay?" He asked after pulling me into a hug. "What happened between singing Taylor Swift in the shower this morning and looking like someone kicked your puppy now?"

"I was not singing Taylor Swift in the shower," I pouted, though I may have smiled just a little. Her songs were catchy, it wasn't my fault.

"Uh huh, so who kicked your puppy?"

"I don't have a puppy."

"Bella."

"Edward."

Sigh.

"Fine. Aro kicked my puppy. Or my confidence. Whatever you want to call it."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I pouted. Again.

"Bella."

"Edward."

"It wasn't really a request," he smirked. "What happened?"

"We just had a meeting to go over the editors I've contacted and am hoping to pitch, and he rejected over half of them. I mean, I know most of them are a long shot, but Seth's story is just so good, and I know someone has to be smart enough to see that. I wanted to at least give it a shot, ya know? Go big or go home and all that."

I could tell by the twitch in his jaw that he was struggling not to just be pissed at Aro. He really was a protective boyfriend like that. His ire had the odd effect of easing mine, just a little.

"Did he say why he was rejecting them?"

"Yeah, they're at some of the biggest publishers in the country, and they prefer to work with agents from the 'Big Four,' which is true, but I also know that Aro doesn't work with some of the editors I contacted for some idiotic personal reasons. I know this career is either about personal relationships with editors, or being an agent at a firm that they're reluctant to tell no, but I don't have either of those luxuries, yet. This is my chance to start building my own contacts, though, and I don't want to _not_ _try_ just because my boss doesn't work with them." It was nice having a boyfriend in the entertainment business; he knew exactly what I was talking about. After all, he worked with agents on a regular basis.

He was oddly quiet. I looked up at him only to find him frowning in concentration.

"Edward?"

"Bella, I, well, I don't want this to come out wrong, but have you ever thought about working for ICM or UTA? Or are there other big agencies you could work for?"

I laughed. How on earth could that have come out wrong? Edward wanted bigger things for me; I found it oddly complimentary. "Honestly, I'd love to. But I kinda need to have actual experience as an agent first."

"Are you sure about that?" He asked sincerely. "I mean, don't most agents start as editors first? And you worked as an editor right out of college didn't you? It seems like you have more experience than most brand new agents."

His confidence in me was flattering, and completely bolstering, but it didn't change my current status as a not-quite-real agent, or my predicament with Aro's short-sightedness.

"Maybe someday," I acquiesced, pulling him to me by his tie for a kiss.

He grinned when we broke away, clearly happy and convinced that he'd done his job to lift my spirits. "Jasper has his first real studio time scheduled next week. I sent over the signed contract this morning after they accepted all of our concessions."

I smiled genuinely, so proud of both him and Jasper. He kissed me again, and I felt the last vestiges of my annoyance with Aro slipping away. At least some people's careers were headed the right direction.

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**AN: FYI, the "Big Four" are the biggest talent agencies in the business: Creative Artists Agency (CAA), International Creative Management (ICM), United Talent Agency (UTA), and William Morris Endeavor (WME). I also mentioned Abrams (Abrams Artists Agency (AAA)), and Gersh (The Gersh Agency (TGA)). Robert Pattinson, for example, is represented by WME. Some of them tend to only work with film and television, but some represent music, acting, writing, film, TV, etc., all in the one agency. If you have questions about the whole agent process that I talked about this chapter, let me know.**

**Question: What was/is your favorite subject in school? Mine was English. I liked it enough that I made it my major in college, and I still loved it there.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**Sorry this has taken forever for me to write. Real life and all that. Thanks for sticking with me. I promise I haven't/won't abandon this before it's finished.

* * *

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I was not going to cry.

Nope, it didn't matter that our biggest client, a mystery writer of all things, reamed me over the phone because Aro wasn't in his office. It didn't matter that Aro reamed me ten minutes later for not putting said tear-inducing client through to him – which was impossible considering he hadn't been there. It didn't matter that I could tell Seth was getting frustrated with my inability to stand up to Aro and tell him that yes, I was going through with my two editor meetings at HarperCollins and Penguin Books. It didn't matter that it was freaking Monday, and Edward was so bombarded with some caseload a partner shouldered him with that I probably wouldn't see him ever again. Nope. None of that mattered because I was. Not. Going. To. Cry.

I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand. Okay, I was not going to cry any_more_. Stupid fricking traitor tear. See if I ever provide you with a nice, cozy tear duct to live in again.

My cell phone rang and I quickly dug through my bag to find it.

"Hello?" My voice did not waver, thank you very much.

"_Bella? Sweetheart, are you okay?"_

It was Esme, and, being the Mother Teresa of moms, she could tell I was upset from one word out of my mouth.

"Yeah," was my watery response.

"_Are you sure? Did Edward do something? I know how men can be sometimes. I'm not afraid to put him in his place if he's done something stupid."_

I smiled a bit at the image of Edward cowering under glare of his mother.

"No, he's just as perfect and lovely as ever. The jerk."

Esme laughed and the sound lifted my spirits some. _"The boy is hardly perfect, Bella. Clearly you haven't seen his temper yet. Or his house before he's had a chance to clean it up before you get there."_

I chuckled, just a little bit. "Well, it's not him, honest. It's just one of those days."

"_I hate those days,"_ Esme commiserated. She didn't even push for more information. She should really teach Renee about mothering, she could save me a lot of grief in the future. _"Well, I was calling about having you all to our house this weekend to celebrate Jasper's record deal."_

Oh yes, because not everyone was wallowing like I was.

"_What are Jasper's favorite foods? I want to surprise him with a smorgasbord of all his favorite food and drinks so it really feels like it's about him. Does that sound okay?"_

Oh my gosh, this woman called me to find out my best friend's favorite things so she could host a proper party for him when she's never even met him before. My own mother baked me a chocolate cake every year for my birthday after I told her chocolate was my least favorite cake flavor. I was going to cry. For real this time.

I held it together long enough to give Esme a rundown of everything Jasper would want and say goodbye. As I hung up, I closed the door to the office, pleased for the first time ever that Garrett and Kate had abandoned me to get it on during their lunch break. I was two minutes into my 'I hate Monday' cryfest, when my phone rang again. I rolled my eyes at myself for the completely involuntary smile that overtook me as the sounds of "Geek in the Pink" resonated through the small office. Edward was so proud of himself when he doctored his own ringtone on my phone.

Crying, smiling, I'm sure raging was somewhere in my future. I had to be PMSing, it was the only explanation.

"Hey," I answered, cutting off the ridiculously fitting lyrics of Jason Mraz.

"_Are you crying?"_ I'd like to say he sounded concerned, but he really just sounded terrified.

"No," I said petulantly.

"_I'm sorry. I mean, are you okay? Is something wrong?"_ There's the concern that a crying girlfriend merits. Good save, Hot Lawyer Man.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just being a girl."

"_What were you being before?"_

"I dunno. Something less emotional and crazy."

"_Well, I'll take the emotional and crazy as long as it means you are actually a girl. I'd hate to find out my girlfriend was a dude after all this time."_

"Shut up," I laughed.

"_She laughs! All is not lost, then."_

"Give me a few minutes and maybe I'll be hysterical. Then the cycle will be complete."

"_Or," _I could hear the slight pleading in his voice, _"we could skip the crazy episode all together so that I'm not concerned for you sanity on our date tonight."_

"A date? I thought you were stuck working late this week."

"_I passed my recent caseload on to an intern, it's just research, anyone could do it. And yes, a date, you know those little outings that people who are dating go on together. Damn, I am completely failing as a boyfriend if you don't even remember what a date is. Don't tell my mom."_

"Har har. I know what a date is, I just wasn't planning on getting to go on one today. I mean, it's Monday."

"_I'm sorry, is there some kind of rule that says I can only take you on dates on Friday or Saturday? I must have missed that day of orientation."_

"Fine. A date on a Monday. Where are you taking me on this date?"

"_It's a surprise."_

"Really?" I whined. I hated surprise dates, I could never figure out what to wear.

"_No. I'm taking you to Santa Monica Pier."_

"But I—oh. Okay, cool. That sounds fun, actually."

"_Don't sound so surprised," _he laughed_._

"I'm not, I just, this was not how I pictured my day ending."

"_Is it better than you pictured, at least?"_

"Absolutely." I heard Kate and Garrett's voices as they approached the office. "Well, my co-workers seem to have put their clothes back on and returned to work, so I should probably go." Kate flipped me off, hearing my conversation as she opened the door.

"_Alright, well I'll pick you up at your place at six, that okay?"_

"Yup, I'll see you then."

"_Bye, babe."_

Heh. "Bye."

For reasons I couldn't explain, I was butterflies-in-my-stomach style giddy for the rest of the workday. I'd spent the entire weekend with Edward, but Jasper and Alice were around most of the time, too. And everyone was still so excited about the contract Jasper had been offered that there wasn't much in the way of discussion beyond that. So a whole night, just Edward and me, was seriously appealing.

I snuck out of work early so that I could actually take my time getting ready. By five o'clock I was standing in front of my closet in my towel, staring blankly at my clothes. Stupid clothes. Stupid Adam and Eve and their fruit-eating ways, making them realize they were naked and needed clothes. Not that I wanted Edward to walk around naked in front of anyone but me. That was for my eyes only, thank you very much.

I abandoned my closet in favor of doing my hair. It took me a minute to locate a blow dryer, and then another five to stop laughing when I found it in Jasper's bathroom. He claimed Alice used it, but his spluttering and middle finger told me otherwise.

Twenty minutes later I was in another face off with my closet without the luxury of hair or makeup to distract me. I glared, hoping that maybe I could scare it into picking out my clothes for me. This was ridiculous. I never put this much thought into my clothes. I'd been dating Edward for months now, and he still turned me into a schmoopy pile of girl goo. The worst kind. I'd much prefer to be less schmoopy tomboy goo. I could handle being that kind of goo. Who the hell thinks about goo when getting ready for a date? Right, focus, Bella.

"Dear god, woman, turn your brain off."

I whipped around to see Jasper laughing at me from my doorway.

"Don't you knock, perv?"

"What? You think I _want_ to catch you in your towel? Gross. No, the roommate I used to have would have been dressed and ready by now, joining me for a beer on the couch and grilling me on the details of her escape plan when said date inevitably went south."

I sighed and turned back to my closet, "Yeah, I know. Where did that roommate go? I miss her, she was cool."

"Nah," I heard Jasper sit on my bed, "I like this one better. She gets laid, so she's nowhere near as cranky."

I threw a shoe at him. Unfortunately it was a flip-flop, so it didn't do much damage. And I kind of threw like a girl, so it might have missed him entirely.

"Just wear those black pants or jeans or whatever with that v-neck Kings of Leon t-shirt."

I raised an eyebrow at Jasper's odd knowledge of my wardrobe. "Why?"

He rolled his eyes, "Because it shows off the boobs you don't have, and he'll look at the shirt and think about 'Sex on Fire.' Win-win."

"So, it really is always about sex?"

He nodded solemnly, "Always."

"Fine. Now get out of my room."

I pretended to be annoyed, but I'd have to be sure to bring him back some cotton candy for saving me from going on my date in a towel. Plus, giving Jasper cotton candy came with the added bonus of watching Alice yell at him when he went crazy on a sugar high. Sometimes it felt like I lived with a toddler.

I was halfway through a beer, and Jasper was halfway through throwing popcorn at my head in an attempt to get it to stick in my rarely fluffed hair, when Edward knocked on our door. I set my beer down and chased Jasper to answer it.

"You're not supposed to answer it, Bells! It's unladylike!" He panted, yanking my arm back when I managed to usurp him.

"Ow! Dammit, J. It's not unladylike. He's my freaking boyfriend, it's not like this is our first date."

We were mid-girly slap fight when Edward opened the front door on his own. He smirked at us as we both paused. "You know, you guys are loud enough that your neighbors probably hear every conversation you have."

He moved to greet me, plucking a stray piece of popcorn from my hair before dropping a quick kiss to my lips. "Hi," he smiled. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." My answering grin was cheesy as hell, I was sure. "You're not looking too shabby yourself." Not that he was really capable of looking shabby, but still, boys like compliments, too.

"High praise," he smirked. "You ready?"

I nodded grabbing for my purse and jacket, and taking Edward's offered hand. He turned to Jasper. "I'll be sure to have her home by eleven."

Jasper nodded solemnly. "Be sure that you do."

I rolled my eyes at the pair of them. "You better not have me home by eleven."

"It's a school night, Bella," Edward smirked, tapping the end of my nose.

"Yes," I nodded, "And I have clothes for work at your place already, which means I will see you tomorrow night, Jasper."

Jasper made an exaggerated gagging sound, "TMI."

"Really, J? Really? _That _was TMI coming from the man who—"

"Okay!" Jasper interrupted. "See you tomorrow after work, then. Bye." And he unceremoniously shoved the pair of us out the door and closed it behind us, the deadbolt sliding quickly into place.

Edward looked at me with raised eyebrows, "What the heck were you going to say that had him kicking us out so quickly?"

I shrugged. "I dunno what _he _thought I was going to say. _I_ was simply going to bring up the time he and Alice got it on in my room while I was visiting my dad and left the evidence for me to find," I said loudly enough that I knew Jasper could hear me through the door.

"I can't hear you," he shouted from somewhere inside. Edward chuckled and pulled me down the hallway.

Seven miles and nearly an hour drive later, Edward was utterly failing at putting a basketball through a hoop. We'd skipped an actual in dinner in favor of hot dogs and kettle corn, and now Edward was determined to win me one of the pathetic carnival-style prizes. He obviously was not a jock in high school. Or college. Or ever.

He tried to play it off to start as needing to warm up, but he was on his third round of tickets for the game. Clearly he had no game.

"Edward, give me the ball."

I expected some chauvinistic remark about how I couldn't possibly make the shot if he couldn't. Boys have egos about that kind of thing. Instead, Edward wordlessly passed the ball to me, hanging his head and pouting in that ridiculous way that made me want to kiss it all better.

I lined myself up in front of the basket and did my best to ignore the snickering game booth attendant - a high school kid that clearly had no problem putting a basketball through a too small hoop.

Maybe I should have attempted to soothe my boyfriend's wounded pride, but this opportunity was just too good to pass up. "Watch and learn, Edward. Watch and learn."

My first shot was nothing but net. The attendant busted out laughing. Edward just shook his head (and blushed, but I did him the courtesy of pretending his heated cheeks were obviously from the strenuous exertion of missing the hoop over and over), while muttering something or other about the game being rigged.

"Do you want the giant purple gorilla, or the blue dolphin-whale hybrid that might just be a discolored seal?" I asked him.

"Very cute. Just shoot the ball." I turned to face the hoop again. "And I want the gorilla, obviously," he added, just in time to make me not miss my second shot because I am actually that awesome.

Ten baskets and one giant gorilla later, Edward and I were headed to the arcade. I made Edward carry Bert, his new bed companion, after telling him that I didn't win him that gorilla just so _I_ could carry it around all night. Besides, I was carrying Ernie, the oh so tiny stuffed bear that the attendant gave to Edward as a pity prize for his pathetic baller skills.

_I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good. I would call her. _I snorted as we made our way toward the arcade. Edward shot me a questioning look, but I just shook my head. He didn't need to know that I was randomly singing Skee-Lo internally. Or mocking his b-ball skillz – yeah, with a z. Word.

We approached the old skee-ball machine (_huh, I wonder if Skee-Lo liked skee-ball_), and our entwined fingers swung between us like the freaking adorable couple we were. Bert was cozied up to Edward's opposite side. Freaking stuffed monkey, using her opposable big toes to get doubly handsy with my man. I snorted again. There was a good chance I needed therapy.

"Here." Edward handed me the small ball. "Take your first shot before I ask what is going through that pretty little head of yours and get an answer that makes me fear for you sanity."

I grinned, patting him on the cheek and stepping in front of the platform lane thing. "You're such a smart man."

I rolled and got a whopping ten points.

"My motivations are entirely selfish, I assure you." He smiled.

I quirked an eyebrow in question, turning away from the game as I rolled my next ball down the ramp. It's a miracle I even got ten points that turn. I half expected it to skip over to the next lane.

Edward grinned, cocking his head as he responded, "If you're insane then you'll have to be institutionalized and I'll be out my favorite girlfriend."

"Your _favorite _girlfriend?" I glared at him as I rolled my next ball without even looking at the ramp. "You mean your only girlfriend. The most amazing, brilliant, fantastic girlfriend you could ever ask for."

"Right." He smirked. "That's what I meant."

"Shut up," I muttered with a grin as I moved out of the way so he could take his turn. I ended up with a completely respectable 110 points after rolling all nine balls.

Edward, it turned out, was much better at skee-ball than basketball. He took his time lining himself up and did some weird squinty-eyed wrist flick throw. He got a hundred points on his very first roll for his trouble. After watching him repeat the process to the same result three more times, I decided that he was withholding serious information from me.

"Edward, did you bowl in high school? You can bowl a perfect three hundred can't you? Was your nickname Twinkle Toes?"

He rolled his eyes in response. Curious. Not a yes, not a no.

"Wait," I laughed, "There's an underground skee-ball league that you're part of, huh? Are you really even a lawyer? Is your entire a office a front for the skee-ball gambling ring you run?"

He shook his head and shook as he attempted not to burst out laughing. "Where do you come up with these things? A skee-ball gambling ring? You really are insane."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I am not insane, just insanely imaginative. There's a difference."

"Uh huh," he chuckled as he rolled for another fifty points. "Huge difference. You're lucky I, uh," he cleared his throat, "You're lucky I find your brand of insanity charming."

I merely smiled at his reply, hoping to hide the fact that my heartbeat had sped up tenfold at what I thought he might have held back from saying. "Whatever, Twinkle Toes, you're the one who bowled in high school."

"I did not. And I hardly look like Fred Flintstone when I'm bowling, anyway."

"Are you sure? 'Cause you look pretty fancy skee-balling."

"Yeah, well," he reached down and tore off the gobs of tickets he won with his stupid 620-point score (it would have been 700 if I hadn't pinched his ass on that last turn), "My fancy skee-ball skills just got us all these tickets."

I decided not to point out the fact that his bunch of tickets would eventually be turned in to buy a crappy slinky that wouldn't work because neither of us had stairs in our homes. _I_ won us that hella awesome handsy gorilla.

After several more games where Edward beat the pants off me (not literally, of course, walking around without your pants was more of a Venice Beach thing than a Santa Monica thing), Edward's ego was happily restored. He grudgingly allowed me pull him over to the photobooth next. And by 'grudgingly allowed,' I mean nearly yanked my arm off in his show of enthusiasm for the idea. Not that I was complaining, his prettiness needed to be recorded for the sake of posterity. And I was maybe a bit of a sap that wanted the old school, black and white strip of four pictures of the two of us that I could tape to the mirror in my bedroom. Edward was apparently of the same mindset. So much so that we had to take all of our ridiculous pictures twice because neither of us were willing to split the strip of four to a measly two pictures.

I had to admit, we were pretty damn cute making silly faces and being sappy. Even if Edward insisted that Bert be in the pictures. I wasn't jealous of a stuffed monkey. I really wasn't.

"Come here." Edward grinned, pulling me out of the arcade in the direction of the Pier's scant rides.

"Where are we going? And why are we running?" I asked.

"Bella," Edward replied, stopping abruptly and nearly making me run into his shoulder. "If we don't run, we're not going to get a good seat on the Ferris wheel." His look told me this information should have been obvious. My look told him he was insane.

"All the seats on the Ferris wheel are the same, Edward," I spoke slowly.

He returned my patented 'you're insane' look. Clearly he wasn't a patent lawyer, otherwise he'd know he had to pay to do that.

"Getting the right seat is a science," he explained. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that eight out of ten times I have been able to pick the chair that gets stopped at the top the longest."

"Wow," I replied as Edward began leading me, at a slightly less enthusiastic pace, toward the looming wheel. "You have spent a lot of time on Ferris wheels. I don't think I've even been on a Ferris wheel ten times, let alone have riding stats."

"Hey, all the cool kids rode the Ferris wheel in high school."

"Uh huh, did they join the bowling team, too?"

A received a sardonic eyebrow raise for my remark. Well, I'll see your raised eyebrow, mister, and raise you another eyebrow and quirked lips in response. Yes, I just turned our silent conversation into a gambling metaphor. If Edward could hear my internal ramblings, he'd probably tell me something sappy about being "all in." The thought made me smile.

Oh man, I was actually making up fake responses to the silent gambling metaphor in my head. I really needed to get out more.

We stood in line behind a bunch of teenagers. At least, I assume they were teenagers based on their conversations about the unfairness of curfews, which was really kind of ironic considering they were out on a school night and all. Kids these days.

Edward was bouncing on his toes and fidgeting restlessly as we neared the front.

"You are _not_ kidding about this science of Ferris wheel seating business," I told him, gripping his arms in both hands and physically forcing him to be still.

He eyed me solemnly. "No, I'm not."

I couldn't help it, I laughed at him. I laughed at him a lot, and loudly. The curfew kids even gave us disdainful looks, which just made me laugh harder. No one can look condescending while wearing Hello Kitty knee-highs, it's just not possible.

"Uh, you guys can go ahead of us," Edward said to the group of three girls in line behind us when we reached the very front.

"You're kidding me, right?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "I told you, Bella, I don't kid about this. We want the next chair. Trust me."

I shook my head as I let the girls pass me. "My boyfriend is so weird," I mumbled to myself.

"What?"

"Huh? I didn't say anything."

Edward eyed me dubiously, but didn't push it. When the next chair emptied of its occupants, Edward gestured for me to enter first, like the gentleman he was, and then sat down himself, making sure Bert wasn't going to fall out beside him. We were both quiet as we ascended, taking in the darkened skyline of Los Angeles.

"I hope there's not an earthquake in the middle of the ocean right now," I said, watching the night-blackened waves below us as they lapped at the beach.

"That was incredibly random," Edward spoke into my hair as he pulled me tighter to his side.

"No it wasn't. If there were an earthquake in the middle of the ocean now it could cause a tidal wave big enough to take out all of Santa Monica and we would be the first to go with absolutely no way to save ourselves."

"These are the things you think about while riding on a Ferris wheel with your boyfriend?"

"No, these are the things I think about when I'm at the beach. The Ferris wheel just added the 'no way to save ourselves' element."

He chuckled and I could feel his breath as it warmed the side of my head. "It would be kind of an awesome view."

"Yeah," I retorted, "Until we died."

"Admittedly, that part would suck."

We fell quiet again as we made our way up and over the top of the wheel. I might as well have been molded to Edward's side for as close as we were sitting. I played with his fingers as he watched the dotted people on the pier below us.

"Your mom called me this morning," I said into the worn cotton of his t-shirt.

"Whatever she said is not true. Lies, I tell you, all lies."

I laughed and poked his side, making him squirm in his seat. "Not everything is about you, ya know."

"It isn't? Hmm, that's news to me."

"You have a lot of ego for a man that has spent much of his life as a dork."

"I did not bowl in high school!"

I chuckled at his outburst, and then laughed even harder when the girls in the chair in front of us turned around.

"Shut up," Edward mumbled.

I stifled my laughter in his shirt and managed to compose myself around the same time it took for his cheeks to turn back to their normal color. Sad. I loved a blushing Edward.

"She called about our going to their house this weekend," I told him. "She wanted to know all of Jasper's favorite foods. Is she always that fantastic?"

Edward's smile was proud. "Yes, she is. I totally hit the mom jackpot."

Just as Edward finished speaking, the Ferris wheel jerked to a stop. Lo and behold, our chair was as close to the top as any and Edward smiled smugly. "Science, Bella. I never fail at the Ferris wheel."

"I was unaware that one could fail at the Ferris wheel."

"Tell that to the awkward kids stuck one chair from the bottom."

I rolled my eyes and then gripped Edward tighter as the wind rocked our chair. Not that I was scared, or anything. I mean, who would be scared about being tossed from a hundred feet in the air into the pitch-black water below. Or, better yet, the unsuspecting folks that were wandering around the pier. Not a scary thought. Not scary at all.

"Are you scared?" His tone was amused.

"No!"

"It's just a little wind, babe."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not scared."

"The same way you're not scared of the 405 overpass bridge on the 10." He smirked. Stupid knowing smirk.

"Dude, the bridge shakes. It shakes," I insisted. "And anyway, I'm not scared of that either. It's normal to have a healthy respect for contraptions that are holding you in the air that might collapse at any moment."

"You're right, that doesn't sound like fear at all."

"Uh huh, so, your mom is awesome."

"She is. Is this your way of distracting yourself from the fact that you're afraid of the Ferris wheel?"

"I'm not."

"Right, well, I'll bite. Yes, my mom is awesome. My dad's not half bad, either."

"Not half bad to look at you mean," I mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. So, these parents of yours, do you want to share them? Mine are just your average 'we don't know what to do with you now that you're an adult' kind of parents."

"I could be persuaded to share." He quirked his lips in my favorite crooked smile. "What's in it for me?"

The question was posed lightly, but the mood around us seemed to have shifted. Edward turned so he was almost facing me and his eyes were studying me intently.

"I thought that was obvious," I spoke quietly, unable to break his gaze.

"Is it?"

I nodded, wrenching my eyes from his and instead watching my hands as they fidgeted nervously in my lap. I wanted to say the words. Three simple words. Not that hard.

"Edward, I…" Okay, very hard. Hardest three words in the English language.

"Bella." His tone implored me to look at him and I did, hoping that maybe he could see the words written all over my face so I wouldn't have to say them out loud. His smile was soft, and he reached for a strand of hair that had fallen toward my face, running it through his thumb and index finger like he did that very first night, before our first almost kiss. It was just as intimate and comforting now as it was then.

"I love you, too," he said quietly.

My pulse raced. He loves me, too. He told me loves me, too. Hells yes he loves me; I'm very lovable. Wait. What? Too?

"Wha?" I managed to say, and Edward looked appropriately caught out. "What do you mean, 'I love you, _too_.' I never said it."

He ran a flustered hand through his hair. "Well, no, but you do, don't you?"

His voice held a hint of insecurity, which I felt more than compelled to ease. "Yes, I do."

"Will you say it? Please?"

I tried to look smug, but I know I failed and just looked lovesick instead. "I love you."

He grinned. "I love you, too."

"Good. You should. Now that we've covered that, why did you say 'too' the first time?"

He looked only mildly exasperated. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"No. What the heck am I supposed to tell little Lafonda when she asks about that perfect moment when you first said… 'I love you, too.' It's just not the same, see?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you must know, you might have, uh, you might have toldmeinyoursleep," he mumbled the last part quickly and it took me a minute to work out what he'd said.

And then I blushed the shade of freaking Rudolph's nose and covered my face in my hands. "No, I didn't. Please, please tell me I didn't."

I peeked through my fingers enough to see Edward's wince. Okay, so I did. I most definitely did tell my boyfriend that I love him _in my sleep_. Unconscious and unaware that he's known for who knows how long that I love him. That I freaking love the jerk face.

"How long ago? And why the heck didn't you say something? Or at least say it back?" I smacked him in the chest at that realization.

He laughed. "I did say it back, at the time, but you were asleep, so you didn't hear me. And I didn't want to just start saying it like we'd been saying it all along or something. That would have been weird."

I groaned. "How long ago was this?"

"Why?" His smirk was devilish. "How long have you been in love with me?"

"Dude, not the time for smugness."

"Right, sorry," he said. Not appearing that sorry at all. "It was only last week. And I didn't say it to you sooner because I wanted to make sure you actually meant it, that you were ready to say it to me in person, or at least while you were aware of saying it."

Well, that was kind of sweet of him. And it made sense, in a weird, twisted guy way. I probably would have done the same thing if he were the sleep talker. Actually, that's not true. I would have danced a smug, little happy dance the instant he woke up and told him that I knew he was madly in love with me. I suppose his way was better. In the end, the result was the same. He loved me. And I loved him. And we were in love. I felt an odd kinship with Buddy the Elf in that moment, and I nearly shouted, "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it," from the top of the Ferris wheel. I managed to refrain. Just.

"You love me," I said instead, resting both of my hands on his chest and shifting so I was nearly on his lap. It felt like I couldn't get close enough.

"I really do." He smiled and pulled my face gently to his for a kiss that managed to linger, teetering somewhere between savoring and needy, until the clearing of a throat interrupted us. Apparently the Ferris wheel had begun moving again and it was our turn to get off. Ha, get off. My inner 13-year-old snickered.

Edward mumbled an apology to the young Ferris wheel attendant, and scooped up Bert in one arm as he held a hand out to me. I wasn't apologetic, I was freaking ecstatic.

As we stepped out of the chair I turned to the attendant kid that was looking at us with no small amount of amusement. "He loves me," I said matter-of-factly and the kid merely laughed.

"Good for you."

Edward rolled his eyes, but smiled indulgently and pulled me toward the main foot traffic of the pier. "Come on, let's get Jasper his cotton candy and head home."

Home. Home sounded good; even more so when I realized that it didn't matter which of our actual residences he was talking about. My place, his place, both were home. He was home. And, damn, it felt good.

* * *

**Review question: I can't actually think of a question, so my question is, what question would you like to see asked? It can be random, or fandom related, or philosophical… like whether or not the sky is really blue. **

**Many thanks to Cheyenne Masen for her typical awesomeness and to Oscar519 for demanding that this chapter be posted today. I need deadlines, clearly.**


	16. Chapter 16

The Culver City offices of HarperCollins were much less intimidating leaving than coming. Actually, they weren't very intimidating looking at all, but you couldn't have told me that an hour and a half ago before my meeting with Senior Editor Mr. 'Please, just call me Marcus.' Despite the casual address, Marcus did nothing for my nerves. His no-nonsense black suit gave exactly the impression he intended. If that wasn't enough, his poker face was such that it would have made Lady Gaga jealous. He gave away nothing, and had clearly met his fair share of schmoozing agent-types.

Lucky for me, I have a lifetime's experience of reading people. And a boyfriend whose job is to appear as an intimidating lawyer when I know that not-so-deep down he's dork with a penchant for cuddling. Though, even with my best effort, I couldn't picture Marcus as a cuddler. By the end of our meeting, however, the poker face had morphed to an almost smile. A quirk of the lips, really. Inside intelligence (also known as Kate's superior sense for gossip) told me that Marcus was, in fact, Aro's burned bridge at HarperCollins. Kate, Garrett and I spent one of our more productive afternoons at the office discussing exactly what this meant. Kate claimed it was a business deal gone wrong. Garrett claimed that they used to be partners, and Marcus left the agency for bigger and better things. I claimed that 'partners' meant more than just work associates.

Marcus' past with Aro remained the elephant in the room throughout our meeting, but I got the impression that Marcus went into it not expecting to like me, and came out wondering why I was working for Aro. He was not alone there. Clearly, though, I have a way with middle-aged men.

I scrolled to Edward's name on my phone (and by scrolled I mean tapped the first name on my favorite's list – he usurped Jasper after our first real date) and grinned at the picture of him that popped up.

"_Hey!"_ He answered after the first ring. _"How did it go? Was it good? Does he want the story?"_

"When did you change your picture on my phone?"

"_When I saw that the picture you had of me was scary. How was the meeting?"_

"It wasn't scary, that was your face when you were getting a drunken lap dance from Alice."

"_Exactly. Scary."_

"Whatever, I'm changing it back."

"_Bella, the meeting. I'm dying here."_

"Oh really? You are? Sort of how I was dying to know how your meeting with Jasper went last week? I mean, at least I'm calling you."

"_That again? I told you, I'm sorry. I should have called you, or made Jasper call you."_

"Yes, you should have. Maybe I should just wait until we get home, it would be better to tell you how it went in person, and I don't want to bother you at work."

"_You are impossible, woman."_

"You have not seen impossible, mister."

"_Bella," _his voice had taken on a decidedly pleading tone, bordering on whining, really. _"Will you please tell me how the meeting went? Please?"_

"Oh fine, but only because I know you're pouting."

"_And because you know you're secretly dying to tell me." _His cocky, my-Stanford-degree-tells-me-I'm-always-right tone was loud and clear. So much for whining.

"Cool, so I'll see you at my place around six?"

"_No! No, no! I'm sorry, I'm kidding. I'm pouting, you're right, I'm pouting, so you should tell me how it went and put me out of my misery."_

"It was fine."

There was silence on the line and I struggled to hold in my laugh.

"_I hate you," _he finally said, and I really did laugh.

"No you don't, you love me."

I could almost picture the smile he was sure to have at the reminder of our date night admissions. _"That too. Now will you please be normal for two seconds and give me details."_

* * *

"No. Absolutely not. I draw the line at pleather chaps." Edward crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. Though the effect was greatly diminished when half of his face was cast in shadow from the rim of his cowboy hat.

"You know what pleather is?"

"Focusing on the wrong point, Bella."

I rolled my eyes. Edward was being a big baby about the theme of Jasper's congratulatory party. I didn't know why he was getting huffy with me, though; the theme was his mother's idea. I mean, sure, I may have gently persuaded her to take it to the extreme - making everyone dress up in Texas-appropriate clothing - but come on, Edward in a cowboy hat? I'd be an idiot to pass up that opportunity.

"Fine," I sighed with as much dramatic disappointment as I could muster. "No chaps, but you have to wear the belt buckle."

Edward merely blinked in response. I was impressed by how disdainful he managed to make such a simple action. Stubborn boy.

I sighed. "Texas-appropriate, Edward. Do you see the height of my hair? I am sporting Texas hair in my love for Jasper. You are Jasper's lawyer. You got him this record contract. You have to be adequately Texafied or everyone will think you don't care. Do you want people to think you don't care?"

Edward cocked his head to the side, giving me the eyebrow. Hey dude, that's my move; it's supposed to help me get my way, not the other way around. "You can't guilt me into looking like an idiot. It won't work."

"A plaid shirt and a cowboy hat do not make you look like an idiot. I mean, if you tried to go to Texas right now, they would kick you out for failing to meet their dress code. You look like a surfer that accidentally grabbed a cowboy hat instead of a beanie." I held off on reciting my diatribe about surfers and beanies. Honestly, places where you surf are warm enough that you don't need to wear a freaking winter hat. Makes no sense. But tangents would hardly get Edward looking more like a cowboy.

"Texas does not have a dress code."

"No, but the cowboys would kick your ass for calling them idiots."

He rolled his eyes.

"Fine," Edward relented, and I grinned. "I will wear the belt buckle if you will wear the Daisy Dukes." My smile fell. Sometimes dating a lawyer with a penchant for negotiations backfired on me.

Edward grinned, knowing he'd won this argument either way. I grumbled and reached for the discarded shorts that were on the bed, scowling as I yanked off my jeans and shimmied into the tiny cutoffs. Edward smirked, and slid on the oversized Jack Daniels belt buckle with more finesse than was entirely necessary. Smug bastard.

We arrived at the Cullen's house early to help set up, but most of it was done, to my dismay.

"I really wanted to help," I most certainly did not whine to Esme. She smirked familiarly and batted me away with a hand while she put the finishing touches on a table laden with all sorts of heart attack-inducing food.

"This is a celebration for everyone who helped Jasper get to where he is. That includes you, which means you are not allowed to help, only to revel. Go find Carlisle, he'll make you a drink. Edward," She said while swatting his hand away from a bowl of chips. "Come take the extra beach chairs from the garage and move them outside."

"Hey," he most certainly did whine to his mother. "What was all that about this being a celebration for everyone who helped Jasper? I negotiated the record deal."

"Yes you did." Esme mimicked his pout. "And you did a very good job. But you're also my son, which means you're an exception. Now get to it."

Edward grumbled about child labor laws and swiped a handful of chips before dodging his mother's swats and heading toward the garage.

"They never grow up," Esme said affectionately before shooing me away again to go find Carlisle.

I took my time heading to the back patio, where I knew Carlisle would be, preparing to play bartender. Esme had really gone all out. There was a table loaded with bandanas and cheap cowboy hats for anyone who didn't adhere to the dress code. A large Texas state flag was hung above the mantel, and Buddy Holly was playing throughout the house.

I did my best to keep from bursting out laughing when I finally reached Carlisle. He actually looked ridiculously handsome in a cowboy hat, western shirt – complete with mother-of-pearl buttons – and tighter than normal jeans tucked into cowboy boots. What was in the water that the Cullen men drank, honestly? No genes can be that flawless. Regardless, I nearly choked myself in my attempt not to laugh because while Carlisle stood at the bar looking every part John Wayne at the height of his career, he was frantically thumbing through "Bartending for Dummies" and eyeing the bottle of Jack like it was going to attack him.

"Bella!" He grinned, or attempted to, though it was more of a grimace. "What can I make for you?"

"Jack and ginger?"

He exhaled in relief. "Oh thank god, I do actually know how to make that. Wait!" He looked at me, panicked. "Ginger just means ginger ale, right?"

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. When Carlisle looked at me like I just kicked his puppy I laughed harder. Edward found us twenty minutes later, puzzling over the exact ratios of tea and booze in a Long Island Iced Tea. We alternated drinking it every time we botched it. Considering there is no tea in Long Island Iced Tea, we botched it a lot.

"Bella, are you getting my dad drunk?"

"What?" I spluttered. "No. That would be weird. I don't like him like that." Well damn, that didn't sound like something I'd say sober. At least not out loud.

"Oookay," he replied, giving me the eyebrow. The raised Eyebrow of Perplexity. One of my high school teachers used to give me the lowered Eyebrow of Doom, but he didn't look like Edward at all. He was bald. And he was the football coach. Edward bowled. And he loved me. Damn, I'd had more to drink than I thought.

"Dad, quit liquoring up my girlfriend." Edward gave his dad the downward Eyebrow of Doom. Dun dun dun. Yep, he still didn't look like the football coach. Had Mr. Pitts looked like Edward, my high school experience would have been _very_ different.

"You," Edward said to me, "Come here."

Was it just me or was his smirk suggestive? Amused? No, suggestive, I liked that better. "Are we going to make out in your room?"

"No." He laughed. "But there's a thought."

"Put a sock on your doorknob!" Carlisle yelled as we made our way upstairs.

Edward shook his head and handed me a bottle of water that he produced from out of nowhere.

"Are you a wizard?"

"What? Bella, how much did you drink?"

"Aguamenti!"

"Petrificus totalus!" Someone yelled in response. Someone that was not Edward.

"Emmett, don't encourage her." That was Edward.

"Silencio," Emmett replied, pointing a finger at Edward.

"Mom." Edward turned imploring eyes on his mother.

She held up her hands. "Hey, I refuse to get in the middle of your duel. I'm a mere muggle."

"Oh god, I'm surrounded," Edward groaned.

My in-laws of the future were freaking fabulous.

Esme smirked. "Bella, Edward tells me you had a big meeting with some editors this week. How did it go?"

"Uhm…" I cast around in my brain for something coherent, but came up with nothing. "Would you mind asking me again when your husband hasn't just plied me with four Long Island Iced Teas and Emmett isn't dressed like a sheriff. Oh my god, Emmett, you're dressed like a sheriff!"

"Sure am, Little Lady." He tipped his Stetson at me. I giggled.

Edward shook his head beside me. "I already told you they went well, Mom."

Esme gave him her mom look. "Yes, I know you did, but I wanted to hear it from Bella. Besides, 'they went well' doesn't give me a whole lot to go off of."

She handed Edward an armful of supplies to put on some Texas-themed table and shooed him and Emmett away. I attempted to pull myself together so I could actually converse with Esme.

"My meetings did go well, for what it's worth." There, that was coherent.

"Good. Do you think they'll lead anywhere?"

"Unfortunately, I don't think the meeting with Penguin Books will. It's not the kind of book they're taking on at the moment. But it was still a good contact to make. I'm hoping my meeting at HarperCollins with Marcus will, but there seems to be bad blood between him and Aro, my boss, so I dunno." I shrugged.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find a publisher for it soon enough. Oh, is that Jasper's car?"

I followed her line of sight to their driveway where, in fact, it was Jasper's car that just pulled up.

Within half an hour, the Cullen's home was overflowing with cowboy boots, bandanas, and cowboy hats, all adorning friends from the many varying aspects of Jasper's life. There were a few college friends I recognized, and I chatted with all of his friends from the café where he worked, but mostly I hung around with Esme. She was the consummate hostess. I was pretty sure I was starting to really love her. And that wasn't just the booze talking.

Eventually Esme shooed me out of the kitchen, refusing my help yet again with the dishes. I wandered out to the balcony where I could see the beachfront patio below. I was amused by the sight of groups of cowboys laughing and talking with the Pacific Ocean a mere 50 yards away.

The door slid open and a few seconds later Jasper slung an arm around my shoulder, joining me as I watched the festivities below.

"Why was I not born a Cullen, Bells?"

"I ask myself the same thing, J."

"Yeah, but then you couldn't bone Edward, it would be incest."

"True. And that would be a devastating loss."

"Besides," Jasper smirked down at me, "You'll be one of them someday." His eyes told me he was serious.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yup. That boy loves you more than life itself."

I smiled at Edward, who was ducking away from Emmett and his 'a sheriff can't be without a gun, Bella' water guns.

"I know," I said simply.

"Have you told him?" Jasper asked.

"Yup, on Monday." I frowned. "And in my sleep, apparently."

Jasper laughed. "Classic."

We stood in silence, watching the dark waves roll into the beach and listening to the raucous laughter from the patio below. Emmett had one hell of a laugh.

"You know," I said, "I think it's illegal to have this many cowboys in Southern California. I mean, aren't there maximum occupancy laws against this kind of thing?"

"Why you gotta hate on Texas, B?"

"Why you gotta talk like that, J? You are aware you're wearing a plaid shirt with bright yellow piping, right?"

"Your point?"

"Your street cred is nil at the moment."

Jasper leaned over the railing of the deck. "Edward! Your girlfriend is being mean to me!"

Edward turned and craned his neck to look at us. "Good," he shouted. "Let her take it out on you so she'll be nice to me when we get home."

Jasper was quickly distracted by the sight of an inebriated Alice heading toward the waves. Presumably her goal was to splash around in them, but with the amount of stumbling she was doing, it was more likely she'd drown. I only wish I'd thought to take a video of the resulting chase as Jasper ended up running after Alice up and down the beach while she screamed about baby seals needing to be free, or some such nonsense. It would have been an instant YouTube hit, especially if Jasper's career took off. Ha.

I was still standing on the deck two hours later. The party had mellowed significantly, and I was enjoying watching Edward, Jasper, and Carlisle pretend to be boyscouts about keeping the bonfire in the pit going. Nevermind the fact that they were using one of those duraflame logs that don't require much prodding of the boyscout variety.

The sliding door opened behind me, and Emmett's hulking frame stepped through. His head was down, though, and his shoulders were hunched. It was a posture I'd never seen on him before. He didn't appear to have seen me, focused as he was on the phone in his hand.

"Emmett?"

His head snapped up as he turned to look at me. He hesitated and I got the feeling he wanted to go back inside.

"Hey, Bella. Sorry, I didn't know anyone was out here."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I'm just observing. I can go in, though, if you need some space?"

He gave me a half smile. "S'okay."

He moved to the railing and turned his back to the ocean, propping his elbows on the ledge and dropping his head back. I watched as he took a deep breath, his eyes closed.

I wanted to say something. Anything. I'd only ever seen Emmett be jovial, and it was disconcerting to see him so quiet. Just when I was about to open my mouth – undoubtedly so I could insert my foot – he lifted his head and smiled at me.

"You make Edward really happy."

His eyes didn't leave mine. I nodded once. "He makes me really happy, too."

His look was searching and his smile was melancholy. "Good," he said eventually, turning to face the ocean and gripping the railing tightly.

"Are you okay, Emmett?" I asked, when he didn't appear to have anymore to say.

"Yeah. No. My ex-wife called. But yeah, I'm fine."

"Okay."

We lapsed into silence again. "Are you okay, Emmett?"

He laughed. "No, I'm not."

I bit my lip. How to proceed? "Do… you… want to talk about it?"

His smile was small, but sincere. "It's okay, Bella, I'm a big boy. And I'm told it's off-putting when I'm morose."

"Let me guess, Edward?"

"Do you know anyone else who uses the word 'morose'?"

"Good point. But seriously, I wouldn't mind listening. I mean, you are little Lafonda's uncle. What kind of fictitious sister-in-law would I be if I didn't lend a willing ear? Besides, maybe I'm just full of unheard pearls of wisdom that will change your life forever."

He smiled, the lopsided smile that he and Edward shared, and took a deep breath. "What has Edward told you?"

"Um." I fiddled with the hem of my shirt, awkward about telling him what I knew. "Not much. And I get the feeling that Edward wasn't very fond of Rosalie. That was her name, right?"

"Yes, and saying that he wasn't fond of her is an understatement. Don't tell him I said this, but I always knew it was because they were so similar. They both have to be right all the fucking time. Did he tell you I can't have kids?"

The abruptness of the questions surprised me, but I nodded.

"My family, much as I love them, has a very skewed perspective of how everything happened."

He cocked his head to the side and gave me a look that told me he could clearly see that I nearly hero-worshipped his family. They were perfect, and no stories of skewed perspectives were going to change my mind, but no matter. I smirked back.

"So what did happen?" I asked.

"Well," he began, "Edward's not wrong. I can't have kids and it played a key role in our divorce, I guess, but it was so much more complicated than that."

"Isn't it always? My parents divorced when I was really young and it's been nothing but complicated since."

"Yeah, I just… I think everyone has this idea, you know, of what your life will look like after you get married. Enjoy yourselves, have a few kids, raise them, spend all your retirement money living out a second honeymoon. And when that vision is forced to change, it just, it puts a lot of pressure on a relationship. Our visions of our future had to change and they didn't change in the same way, you know?"

I nodded.

"Then we were both stubborn idiots and unwilling to compromise our new future. Actually, there wasn't really a way to compromise, if I think about it. I know my family will tell you that Rosie insisted on having biological children, but it's not entirely true."

"It isn't? Did she want to adopt?"

"Well, I think she would have been willing. But I'd already committed to the thought that I was terrified of adopting, which I am, and I was more willing to accept that maybe we weren't meant to have kids. She disagreed. In the end, all we did was disagree. About everything. That's the problem, what you think is one solitary issue suddenly spreads like wildfire into absolutely every aspect of your relationship."

"I'm really sorry, Emmett."

He shrugged. "It is what it is. Maybe someday we'll be friends again and I'll start to remember what it was like to be happy with her."

We lapsed into silence and turned our attention to the ocean. I loved the ocean at night. Well, that's not entirely true, the fact that it was black and the Loch Ness Monster could come creeping out of the depths freaked me right the eff out. Obviously ignoring the fact that the Loch Ness monster supposedly lives in a lake in Scotland. Whatever. The sound of the ocean was nice.

"Bella!" Edward shouted to me from below.

"Yes?"

"I want to go hooooome." The whine and accompanying pout, which I could see from my perch, told me Edward was pretty deep in his drunken happy place.

"He just wants to get laid." I heard Jasper mutter to Carlisle, who chuckled in response.

"Can it, Jasper! Edward, come upstairs, babe, I'll take you back to your place."

Edward shot a smirk at Jasper along with a poorly pitched 'bow chicka bow wow.' I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. Edward would be crashed out before we even hit the 405; the only thing getting laid was his bed.

I turned to Emmett. "Thanks for talking to me, Emmett. I know I'm not family or anything, but I'm always here if you do want to talk."

"Thanks, Bella, I appreciate it."

I headed back into the house to say goodbye to Esme, but Emmett stopped me before I could close the sliding door. "If you can't wake Edward up when you get home, he's super ticklish behind his right ear. He'll scream like a little girl, but it always wakes him right up." His grin was devious.

"Thanks for the tip, Emmett. See you soon."

"See you, Ding Dong."

* * *

**Wahoo, a new chapter! I can't tell you when the next one will post, just know that I'm working on it. And thank you so, so much for everyone who has kept in touch, reviewed, and/or encouraged me on this. My muse and I were at odds, but we're trying to work things out. So, if you're still reading, THANK YOU!**


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